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SOME THOUGHTS ON 

THE INSPIRATION OF THE 

HOLY SCRIPTURES 

BY ROBERT EDEN M. A. 

(late fellow of corpus christi college oxford) 

HONORARY CANON OF NORWICH AND VICAR OF WYMONDHAM 




LONDON 

BASIL MONTAGU PICKERING 

196 PICCADILLY 

1864 

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$>$*£> 





CONTENTS. 



Page 

RELIMINARY . . i 



Infpiration is acknowledged to be 

a ' Reality : ' 
While there are wide differences 
of opinion about its Nature. 
An intelligent (which alone can be a fatisfac- 
tory) belief upon the fubjecl is not to be 
brought about by contrivances. 
Difbelief in the authority of Scripture is to be 

explained upon fome broad principles. 
We muff, give to ourfelves a c reafon ' of our 
belief: this does not involve the fpirit of 
4 rationalifm.' 
The Bible has fpoken clearly upon the fubjecf 
of Infpiration. 



iv Contents. 

CHAPTER I. 

Revelation and Inspiration . . 27 

1 Credentials ' of the Bible, of all fubjects the 

moft intereftlng : 
Of which the c witnefs of the Spirit ' is 

the ftrongeft evidence : and, next to this, 

external confiderations. 
Nature does not properly i reveal ; ' only 

Hiftorical Facts do this. 
Origin of the terms ' Revelation ' and c In- 

fpiration : ' the latter expreffly Scriptural ; 

(' Theopneuftos'). 
Diftinction between the Infpiration of the 

Writers, and their Writings, groundlefs. 

CHAPTER II. 

Ordinary and Special Inspiration 48 

The action of the Lord Jesus in l breathing 
upon ' the Difciples, was fignificant of 
c power from without.' 

Infpiration, whether in the fenfe of ' intelli- 
gence,' or of ' perfonal fan£tification,' does 
not rife up to the idea as it attaches to the 
Writers of the Books of the Bible : 

But it is a queftion whether the laft can be 
correctly faid to differ ' in kind ' from the 
fecond. 



Contents. 



CHAPTER III. 



The Mechanical Theory is Exploded 63 
The confufed notions on the fubject. in which 

men have fo long refted, are felt to be 

unfatisfa£tory. 
The c organic,' as, indeed, every theory, muft 

be tried upon its own merits. 
The Divine and Human elements combine, in 

Infpiration ; but the former predominates. 
The illuftration drawn from the action upon 

the firings of a harp, by the player, is juft, 

but may not be preffed too far. 
The ' influence ' is a preferable term to the 

1 controul ' of the Spirit, when His agency 

in relation to the Scripture Writers is 

fpoken of. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Scriptures were collected by Di- 
vine Guidance : and, the Old Testa- 
ment IS NOT OUT OF DATE . . 83 

The c collection ' of the Books which were 
to form the rule of the Church's Faith, 
implied fpecial Divine guidance. 



vi Contents. 

The Old Teftament has not done its work, 

fo as to be no longer needed, (the contrary 

opinion to which may be traced either to 

philofophical or moral caufes); 
But is of perpetual ufe, as appears from its 

directly Chriftian character, 
And becaufe it tells of deftinies of the Church 

yet to be fulfilled. 
That 4 Scripture ' mifapplies * Scripture,' is a 

charge directly fubverfive of Infpiration ; 

but is refuted by its own phrafeology. 



CHAPTER V. 

The Scripture asserts its own Inspira- 
tion ...... 103 

The Divine Authority of Scripture is eftab- 
lifhed by external confiderations, and is 
afferted by itfelf. 

St. Paul's language (1 Cor. vii.), furnifhes no 
handle to the notion of intermittent in- 
fpiration : 

But, on the contrary, ftrongly fupports the 
other view. 

This latter conclufion does not favour the 
pretenfions of c criticifm,' the modern ufe 
of which term is illegitimate. 



Contents. vii 



CHAPTER VI. 

The term c Scripture ' is of Divine 
Origin and Appointment . . 124. 

A l commiflion to write,' implied either a 
revelation of new truth, or fa£ts to be 
recorded. 

* Holy,' which is a Scriptural prefix, denotes 
the dictation of the Holy Spirit, and fo 
indicates ' authority; ' 

A word which is ufed in fenfes which are to 
be carefully diftinguifhed. As applied to 
the ' Canon of Scripture,' it declares that 
the claims of the Books which contain 
what the Church is to believe, are con- 
tained within themf elves. 

This was the view of thofe who framed the 
* Canon,' and is ever to be upheld. 



CHAPTER VII. 

The New Testament bears witness to 
Divine " design " in the record of 

THE FACTS OF THE Old . 1 44 

The ufe of the Old Teftament in the New 
was pre-ordained : 



viii Contents. 

Which implies, alike, the truth, and the in- 
fpiration, of the former : 

And fhews that the latter is not an arbitrary- 
Interpreter. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Qualifications for recording 
God's Truth necessarily Superna- 
tural . . . . . 151 

Free-inquiry is not to be confounded with 
either Free-thought, or Free-thinking : 

The firft of which limits itfelf by the acknow- 
ledgment of ' Infpiration,' while the latter 
two are unreftrained. 

Infpiration is fupernatural. 

To defend the supernatural is the duty 
to which the Church is at this moment 
fpecially called, in oppofition to Ration- 
alifm : 

Which is to be met by boldly maintaining the 
c felf-evidencing light ' of the Scriptures ; 

And this, as given to the Church generally, 
and alfo to the foul of each Believer. 

Church-teftimony, and our obligations to it, 
have been greatly exaggerated. Its place 
and ufe, as thofe of Tradition, we admit, 
provided that the pretenfions of each are 
put forward modeftly. 



Contents. ix 



CHAPTER IX, 



Inspiration and Human Genius essen- 
tially DIFFERENT . . . igO 

The c falfe ' meafure of Infpiration is feen 
when men firft decide of what fort it ought 
to be ; the ' true,' when they commence 
with an a priori admiffion of the authority 
of Scripture to * decide ' that point. 

* Infpiration ' is neither an intellectual attain- 
ment, nor an exalted form of human 
genius : but, alike in its fource and effe&s, 
differs effentially from either. 

CHAPTER X. 

£ Extent ' of Inspiration as respects 
the 'space ' 196 

The general view of the import of the word 

« Prophecy ' is very contracted. 
A juft view of it, as St. Peter ufes the term, 

fupplies a moft important argument for the 

Infpiration of the whole Bible. 
A ' Paraphrafe' and ' Comment' will ferve to 

prefent what is confidered to be the true 

meaning of St. Peter's words. 



x Contents. 

CHAPTER XI. 

' Extent ' of Inspiration, as respects 
its Quality . . . 213 

The eflential point in the whole inquiry is, 
4 In what fenfe do we underftand the Scrip- 
ture Writers to have been infpired ? ' 

The verbal theory cannot be maintained, nor 
is it required j fo that the ufe of hard names 
toward thofe who differ from that view is 
very blamable. 

This theory receives no fupport from either 
of three PafTages which are often adduced 
as proving it. 

* Grace ' and c Free-will ' may be thought to 
illuftrate the cafe, by analogy. 

Some other theories have been held, different 
from each other, and not all of them in 
themfelves equally objectionable ; all, how- 
ever, inconfiftent with the idea of i full ' 
infpiration. 

The Scripture is, and does not merely include, 
God's Word. The attempted diftin&ion 
between c contains ' and c is co-extenfive 
with,' is not new, but is utterly groundlefs. 

Very important, however, is it to diftinguifh 
between the ' efTence ' contained, and the 
' form ' which contains it. 



Contents. xi 

4 All Scripture is God-breathed,' that is, there 
is no portion of it which is not. 

The Scripture is an infallible interpreter of, 
and cannot mifapply, itfelf. To affert the 
contrary, is a flat denial of its infpiration. 

Scripture and Science, for their alleged dis- 
crepancies, are not to be 'reconciled' by 
accepting the theory of a " progreffive 
revelation :" in fact, they have never 
been at variance. 

Time can fupply evidence in fupport of Re- 
velation, which, in refpect of its Ends, is a 
perfect Record. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Some Heads, of Admonition to one class, 
of Encouragement to another . 260 

If any are refolved to clofe their eyes againft 
Infpiration, they can do fo, the proof being 
efTentially and wholly * moral.' 

But candid minds will be convinced of the 
divinity of the Bible by the unity of its 
fubjecT:, its fearching power, its exhauftlefs 
refources, and the agreement of its diver- 
fified elements. 

That * the evil are mingled with the good,' 



xii Contents. 

in Scripture-hiftory, places no difficulty in 
the way of belief, fince Infpiration endorfes 
only the Record, not neceflarily the cha- 
racters recorded. 

The abfence of any exprefs ftatement re- 
fpe&ing Infpiration, from the authoritative 
ftandards of a Church, proves nothing as 
to what it holds. Its s implied ' belief is 
fufficient for all, except merely technical, 
purpofes. 

A revival of belief cannot be looked for, 
unlefs accompanied by a revival of primi- 
tive fimplicity of mind. 

Thofe who cannot reafon clofely upon the 
fubjecl: of Bible-infpiration, may arrive at 
practical fatisfaction, by looking at the 
* effects ' of the Scriptures in the world ; 
while All have reafon to be thankful that 
God's meffage to man has come in the 
enduring form of a 'written' Record. 







PRELIMINARY. 




NE of the Writers in a 
Volume of unenviable 
fame, after enumerating 
the chief current ex- 
planations of the term ' infpiration,' 
has this remark : — " All perhaps err 
in attempting to define what, though 
real, is incapable of being denned in 
an exact manner." 1 The admiffion 
contained in this fentence, coming 



1 " On the Interpretation of Scripture," 
P- 345- 

B 



2 Preliminary. 

from fuch a quarter, is very valuable. 
Infpiration is acknowledged to be a 
reality. 

The fame EfTayift refers to the 
diftinctions of meaning which the 
word has received, and afferts that 
they have been " more numerous 
than perhaps any other in the whole 
of theology." This may be true : 
and if fo, it indicates a fenfe of 
the importance attaching to the 
fubject itfelf, for it proves that many 
minds have been directed to this 
" reality" to determine its character ; 
jufl as the variety of views concerning 
church-organization implies a con- 
viction that government of fome fort 
is effential to the well-being of a re- 
ligious body ; this again, being the 



Preliminary. 3 

expreffion of afenfe of theprecioufnefs 
of Christian doctrine, lince it can be 
only for the fake of doctrine that the 
queftion of order is of any moment. 
Whence arifes this difagreement in 
opinion about a thing which is 
'real?' It muft be accounted for 
by fome peculiarity in the form in 
which it is taught. If there were 
any fuch explicit ftatements of the 
nature of infpiration, as there are 
fure witnefTes of the fact, thefe would 
preclude "all flrife:" fuch direct 
ftatements, however, are not found. 
" Infpiration," fays that fame Ef- 
fayift who pronounces it to be 'real,' 
" is a fact which we infer from the 
fludy of Scripture, not of one por- 
tion only, but of the whole." Now, 



4 Preliminary, 

juft becaufe it is a conclufion drawn 
from confiderations fcattered over fo 
wide a field, and in their character 
fo diverfified, will the notions ref- 
pecting it, in ordinary minds, be 
loofe and floating. They who can 
generalize are the few. To traverfe 
the wide territory of Scripture, and 
from an almofl infinite variety of 
materials, fuch as that which is 
offered by the contents of the Old 
and New Teftament, to feize the 
features of infpiration, and to make 
notes of them feparately in the 
mind, fo that in their aggregate 
they mail amount to a full afiur- 
ance of the Divine authority of the 
whole record, to fuch a tafk as this 
it is only a few minds that are equal. 



Preliminary. 5 

Hence the difficulty of framing a 
definition in which all mail agree, 
the number of clofe obfervers and 
thinkers, in this cafe, being necerTa- 
rily fo fmall. Strong and fatisfying 
as is the evidence that fettles down 
into the foul of him who with can- 
dour and devoutnefs has read the 
Bible throughout, it is yet made up 
of particulars for the moil part fine 
and impalpable ; or at leaft, far lefs 
capable of becoming the fubjects of 
touch than of feeling. This is, in- 
deed, the peculiarity we mould ex- 
pect to find in a religion which ad- 
drerTes itfelf mainly to the affections ; 
fo far, therefore, is it from being 
true that the argument for Scriptural 
infpiration fuffers from the lack of 



6 Preliminary. 

evidence capable of being clafTed 
under diftind: heads, that the very 
genius of the religion of the Bible 
would feem to make it impomble 
that evidence of this fort mould be 
afforded. 

" The advice" faid to have " been 
given to the theologian, that he 
* mould take care of words, and leave 
things to themfelves,'" whether ori- 
ginally deligned to favour " thofe 
who faid the fame thing and meant 
another," or not, is, when rightly 
applied, found. Take care of the 
words, the chofen terms of the Holy 
Ghofl ; and ' things/ the fubftances 
of truth of which thofe words are 
the figns, will be fafe. 

" An exceffive importance" can- 



Preliminary. J 

not be attributed to " the words 
which the Holy Ghoft teacheth." 
The want of a jealous adherence to 
fuch words, is the ' error' which 
has lain at the root of theological as 
of other confufions. 

But it would be a wrong inference 
from the fewnefs, or even (were 
fuch the cafe) the total abfence of 
any fingle definitive abftract terms 
in the Scriptures, that there were no 
1 things' correfpondent to fuch terms. 
Single terms gathering up into them- 
felves the concentrated erTence of the 
things to be reprefented, befit and 
are to be demanded in natural fcience ; 
but the genius of a revelation from 
God, given ' in different portions 
and different manners,' is of another 



8 Preliminary. 

kind. * The Bible ' which, by the 
very force of the term, we are accuf- 
tomed to fpeak of as one book, is 
really a collection of books quite in- 
dependent of each other, written at 
intervals of time, and by various 
authors ; and the very lafl thing to 
be looked for in a Volume fo com- 
pofed, would be one or more fingle 
terms meafuring with preciuon the 
degree of guidance by the Spirit 
which belonged equally to all the 
books. It is, therefore, to the 
* things' we rather look ; and fo 
doing, may be fafely left to employ 
the words that mall juftly exprefs 
them. Take a jealous care of 
' words,' fo far as they are found 
in or legitimately conftructed out 
of Scripture ; and cultivate the fame 



Preliminary. g 

candour in refpect of * things,' of 
fubftances ; in other words, of truth : 
and the refult which may be pre- 
dicted as regards the prefent fubject 
is, that Infpiration will be plainly read 
in Scripture, alike by fingle words 
and ftatements, and by the impreflion 
{lamped upon the mind after the 
ftudy of it as a whole. In this latter 
refpect it will be analogous to " the 
obfervance of the Sunday," of which 
the Author of the EJfay, " Education 
of the World," juftlyobferves that it 1 
" has a Jironger hold on the minds 
of all religious men, becaufe it pene- 
trates the whole texture of the Old 
Teftament." 

Infpiration which is * really' fuch 

1 P. 45- 



i o Preliminary. 

muft exclude the idea of eflential 
error. In the narratives there may 
be, and are variations ; but, funda- 
mental difcrepancies there are none : 
fo that there is no neceffity for re- 
ferring any differences which are 
met with, to early " traditions;" a 
word which takes the thoughts to 
what is flippery and uncertain ; 
whereas our reliance for the facts 
of our Lord's hiftory refts either upon 
eye-witneffes, or upon thofe who had 
made the moil careful inquiry con- 
cerning the facts which they re- 
corded. " An exact fulfilment of 
prophecy," when its ends are con- 
fidered, will appear to be a necerlary 
condition to our belief in its infpira- 
tion : and fo " the abfence of fuch a 



Preliminary . 1 1 

fulfilment" (could it be made out) 
would be fatal to its claims as Divine. 
But the cafe being that we can point 
to prophecies unqueftionably fulfilled, 
we fee herein our canons of inter- 
pretation confirmed, and that we did 
not "miftake the letter for the fpirit." 
Upheld, however, and vindicated, 
in each of thofe points of view in 
which it may have been covertly 
aiTailed, Infpiration might at laft be 
made to yield its ground, if it could 
be mown that the " very chiefeft of 
the Apoftles," for the fupport of the 
authority of whofe Writings it is 
mainly alferted, has " helitated in 
difficult cafes, and more than once 
corrected himfelf." In the fame 
degree, on the contrary, will our 



1 2 Preliminary. 

belief in infpiration as * real ' be re- 
arTured, if by any arguments it mall 
be made to appear that the language 
ufually alleged as that of * helitation ' 
is fimply the reverfe, being the ex- 
preffion of an undoubting confidence 
that, ' he had the Spirit of God.' 

But when it mail have been mown 
that infpiration is no fiction, but a 
folid and fubflantial thing; and, 
when any misflatements or oblique 
objections mall have been met by 
replies, all that is necerlary will not 
have been done, if there be mifcon- 
ceptions of its nature. * Real' in it- 
felf, and admitted to be fuch, the 
belief in it may not be real : it can- 
not be, if it be not intelligent. Now, 
this end is not to be attained by con- 



Preliminary. 1 3 

ceffions to the fceptical fpirit of the 
day. An * intelligent' belief will 
not be brought about by contrivances 
to render the fubjed: ' intelligible.' 

Upon thofe Writers who put forth 
the dogma that " for any of the 
higher or fupernatural views of in- 
fpiration there is not any foundation 
in the Gofpels or Epiftles," all at- 
tempts to prefent a view of the in- 
fpiration-fubjecl: that fhould be ad- 
mitted as fatisfa&ory , would be thrown 
away. To thefe, going the length, 
as they do, of maintaining that "there 
is no appearance in their Writings 
that the Evangelifts or Apoftles had 
any" fpecial " inward gift," we can 
only reply, " Refrain from thefe 
men, and let them alone, for, if this 



14 Preliminary. 

counfel or this work be of men, it 
will come to nought : but if it be of 
God, ye cannot overthrow it, left 
haply ye be found even to fight 
againft God." God help the holders 
of fuch opinions : for, with fuch 
obliquity of mind it is hopelefs to 
think of coping fuccefsfully. 

In pairing, however, we would 
obferve that there is yet needed, 
from the pen of fome Chriftian 
philofopher, an inquiry into the final 
caufes of thofe ' departures from the 
faith' which * the latter times,' and 
our own very recent experience, 
have witneifed. The Publications 
in which thefe views are contained 
have called forth many able replies, 
in which the mifconception of facts, 



Preliminary. 1 5 

the unfair arguments, and the pofi- 
tive ignorance with which, in many 
inftances, the authors are chargeable, 
have been expofed. But we wifh 
for fomething more : we mould be 
glad to fee an analyfis of the cafe ; 
to have the original and deeper work- 
ings of the minds of the feveral 
Authors laid open. What is the root 
in the fouls of thofe who have made 
thefe revolutionary attacks upon the 
old Faith ? An anfwer to this quef- 
tion would crown the labours of the 
feveral Apologifts, by rendering them 
permanently ufeful. 

As a leading element in fuch an 
inquiry, it will have to be borne in 
mind, that the affaults upon the 
authority of the Scriptures, as they 



1 6 Preliminary. 

have been varied in their character, 
fo have they not been peculiar to one 
age or country : they have fprung 
up in different centuries, and different 
nations. In England, the Deifts ; 
in Germany, the Rationalifts ; in 
France, the anti-Chriftian philofo- 
phers, have furnifhed inftances of 
that fyflem of ' free thought,' and 
' free handling,' which has acquired 
the name of ' Neology,' as being 
altogether new and unheard-of in 
the Church, until introduced in our 
own Country, (for, its rife was among 
ourfelves, and it went from us to the 
Continent,) and in thofe nations. 
It is, therefore, a phenomenon which 
has to be accounted for upon fome 
broad univerfal principles. 



Preliminary. 1 7 

Now, juft as the human confci- 
ence, as fuch, is the platform on 
which the Gofpel takes its ftand, and 
from which it makes its appeal 
(" commending ourfelves to every 
man's confcience in the light of God"), 
fo, in the inftances, wherever found, 
of the rejection of God's revealed 
truth, the human heart, as fuch, we 
believe to be the root of the difbelief. 
Not indeed, that we would impute 
to the Writers who have themfelves 
fo freely ufed the liberty for which 
they have pleaded, of " handling the 
word of God" with freedom, that 
pravity of heart which would lead 
them to defire to get rid of the 
authority of a book whofe moral re- 
ftraints they difliked ; (this would be 



1 8 Preliminary. 

to commit a wanton wrong againft 
high-minded and unimpeachable in- 
dividuals ;) but, the difbelief is that 
of the heart, or the affections, as it 
fprings out of a ftrong diflike to en- 
tertain the idea of a fpiritual Being 
in clofe contact with their own 
fpirits, which is juft the idea of in- 
fpiration as attaching to the Scrip- 
tures. How far this refolution to 
keep the " fupernatural" at bay is 
the filent expreffion of the thought, 
" I heard Thy voice, and I was 
afraid, and I hid myfelf " (efpecially 
fince it is often found in company 
with a " miftaken creed, and the ab- 
fence of true convictions of fin"), 
may afford matter for consideration. 



Preliminary. 1 9 

But, to offer (as fome have done), as 
the folution, in all cafes where it 
is feen, of the fhrinking from the 
4 fupernatural,' a bad ftate of the 
perfonal character, would be to in- 
flict a manifeft wrong upon many of 
the authors of thefe opinions, and to 
be blind to the marks by which our 
own day is favourably dirlinguifhed 
from a preceding one in which free 
fpeculationson religion wereput forth 
in connexion with profane and licen- 
tious principles. 

" 1 The queftion of the * final 
caufe' of the investigations which 



1 Rev. Prebendary Griffith, M.A., Author 
of" The Spiritual Life." 



20 Prelbninary. 

are now fo eagerly profecuted, is a 
deep and wide one. I could not, how- 
ever, follow fome writers in affuming 
moral delinquency to be at the bot- 
tom of it ; for I think the prefent 
age is honourably diftinguifhed from 
thofe of Voltaire and of others, by 
the fpirit in which inquiry puts 
itfelf forth, and the honefty and 
earneftnefs of purpofe which it dis- 
plays. 

" The fact is, that we are in a tran- 
fition-ftate ; and are expofed to all 
the evils of fuch a ftate. And I con- 
fefs that I think much of this chal- 
lenging is due to the extremes of 
unwarranted affertion to which the 
Church has been for fome years 
drifting, on the great points of the 



Preliminary. 2 1 

nature and extent of Biblical autho- 
rity. And I fondly truft that the 
ultimate refult will be the fettling 
down of all Divines into a fafer, 
becaufe truer and more juft theory." 
The interests of truth as much 
require that fatisfactory reafons 
mould be furniihed to the reveren- 
tial thinker for what he is afked to 
believe, as that fufficient replies be 
made to the cavils of the irreverent 
fceptic. If men are to " hold," 
whether " the Catholic faith," or 
any other fundamental principles of 
orthodox Chriftianity, they mull be 
" ready, always, to give a reafon to" 
themfehes " of the " belief " that is 
in" them. Any thing fhort of this 
is, not indeed neceflarily difbelief, 



22 Preliminary. 

but it is unbelief; it is a merely 
negative condition of mind, whereas 
faith is politive ; the * holding ' 
firmly proportions offered to its ac- 
ceptance, from conviction of their 
truth, upon reafonable evidence. It 
is not * rationalifm' to demand a 
reafon for belief. That term is 
properly applied to the fyftem which 
fhuts out miraculous agency, and re- 
fufes to admit as true, whatever is not 
explicable upon natural principles. 
But, not only has a handle been 
offered to the fceptic, but hindrances 
put in the path of honeft believers, 
by placing fome points of high mo- 
ment (and of this clafs is the queftion 
of ' Infpiration '), upon grounds 
which more careful thought has 



Preliminary. 2 3 

difcovered to be untenable. Suf- 
fered, it may be for a very long time, 
to reft on a foundation thus at laft 
mown to be unfound, the claims of 
truth, in any one branch of it, fuffer 
damage, not in themfelves, but in the 
eyes of the mallow and fuperficial, 
who know not to diftin^uiih between 
any weak arguments put forth in 
fupport of truth, and truth itfelf. 
The Church of Chrift, too, is injured, 
by the advantage which its enemies 
take of the occafion, if ever any one 
of the props whereon the edifice has 
refted is thought to have been ftruck 
from under it. 

" The determination of the limits 
of what we mean by the infpiration 
of the Bible" has been pronounced 



24 Preliminary. 

to be one of thofe ftudies which 
muft take the lead of all other." 

Our * meaning' is already ' de- 
termined' if ' the Bible' have itfelf 
fpoken with fufficient clearnefs upon 
the point. That It has fo fpoken, 
not in any fharp definition (for that 
is not its wont), but unequivocally, 
it forms a part of our plan to prove. 

Mofl: true is it that this < ftudy ' 
belongs to a clafs which is entitled to 
take precedence of all other. It 
might be added that in that clafs it 
ftands firft. Becaufe it is thus mo- 
mentous, it is the delign of thefe 
" Thoughts" to fuggeft to thofe 
who may engage in the ftudy fome 
diftinct ideas. Their aim is not to 
diflodge any pofitive opinions which 



Preliminary. 25 

may have been " ^eld in unthinking 
acquiefcence," but to prefent fome 
views lefs vague than thofe in which 
even pious and " reverent" minds 
have been content to reft. 

1 Dr. Temple's " Eflay," p. 47. 





CHAPTER I. 

Revelation and Infpiration : the 
import of the 
"Terms. 

iRITTEN with the finger 
of God." This was the au- 
thoritative fanction which 
accompanied the delivery 
of the two Tables of Testimony, by the 
Lord, to His minifter who was to con- 
vey them to the people of Ifrael. This 
fanction was, afterwards, appealed to by 
Mofes, when he recapitulated the dealings 
of God with that nation : and, however 




28 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

it may have been practically difregarded 
by them, at any periods of their hiftory, 
it has ever been reverentially acknow- 
ledged. 

Of thefe Tables copies without number 
were made for the ufe of the People ; but 
the original Exemplar was brought from 
the Mount. 

And, cc like unto it," analogous to 
this cafe of the Decalogue, is that of the 
entire Scriptures of the Old and New 
Teftament. The channels of conveyance 
through which the found has been brought 
to our ears, have been many and various : 
but it is as coming cc from the excellent 
glory," that the " voice" commands the 
attention of the univerfe of reafonable 
beings. cc Hear, O heavens, and give 
ear, O Earth, for the Lord hath fpoken." 

The Divine origin of the Bible is the 
ground on which every man who holds 
that book in his hands ultimately refts. 
If his heart confeffes to itfelf that in the 



Revelation and Infpiration. 29 

Holy Scriptures it pofTerTes a treafure 
" more precious than rubies," and that to 
them c all the things that it can defire 
are not to be compared,' it is becaufe of 
the undoubting confidence which is cher- 
ifhed that in thofe pages " God hath 
fpoken." Very far from clear may be 
the views which any man holds upon the 
fubjecl: ; and farther ftill from precifion 
the language he employs, if ever he is 
heard to fpeak of Infpiration : but ftill, 
there is the belief; deep in his mind, 
however illogical the habit of it, lies the 
confidence that the Book has " God for 
its author ;" and only as relying on this 
as being unquestionable, does he receive 
the book as having " truth without any 
mixture of error for its matter." 

Now, to thofe who juftly fet this high 
value upon the Bible, what inquiry can be 
fo engaging, what fubjecl; of ftudy fo full 
of intereft, as that which relates to its 
credentials ? Next to the f witnefs of the 



30 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

Spirit,' that private and perfonal afTurance 
of the divinity of the Scriptures, which, 
while by the cold fceptic it is, as an argu- 
ment, rejected, is, by " the honeft and 
good heart," embraced as the ftrongeft 
argument on which it leans ; next to this 
in worth, every thoughtful perfon will 
admit, are all thofe reafons and confidera- 
tions drawn from without, by which we 
can fatisfy ourfelves that in thefe books 
which make up the Volume we thus prize, 
iC God has fent Letters to man." cc To 
render a" philofophical " reafon" of the 
matter, to this few will be able to attain ; 
nor, indeed, is this neceflary : but, a point 
will have been gained if fome apprehen- 
fions of the fubject, a little lefs vague than 
thofe generally met with, can be acquired. 

There are certain Terms of current 
ufe in Theology, which, however familiar 
to divinity fludents, require to be ex- 
plained. Some words have, in popular 



Revelation and Infpiration. 3 1 

ufe, gone away from their original fenfe : 
but this ought not to be the cafe with the 
terms of theology, nor is it with that 
fubjed regarded as a fcience. Foremoft 
among the words which demand to be 
thus defined, are " Revelation" and " In- 
fpiration." 

In referring to thefe terms, it would not 
be pomble to invert the order, fo as to 
fpeak of the latter firft, and of the former 
in the fecond place ; and this, for reafons 
which will appear as we go on. 

Whence comes the word 1 " revela- 
tion ?" We know that it is from the 

Latin verb revelo, to draw back the veil, 
to unveil, difclofe. Looking at the word 

1 In the New Teftament drxuxxXvpis, Rom. xvi. 
25. {vide Koppe on Eph. i. 1 7) ; a term, fays Jerome 
on Gal. i. 1 2, peculiar to the Scriptures, found in 
no Greek writer, but invented by the LXX, though 
ufed afterwards by Porphyry and Plutarch. The 
verb (dwoxxX-JvjTsiv) is common in Claffic Greek. 



3 2 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

in its ftructure, it fuggefts the act of un- 
veiling ; but, its chief ufe in connection 
with religion is to import the things dif- 
clofed, the information communicated. 
'Revelation' is ufed in theology for the 
matters revealed. 

Among all nations which have, in 
any degree, emerged out of the favage 
into the civilized ftate, there are to be 
found opinions and traditions of a com- 
munication between higher beings and 
men. Often very rudely prefented, the 
idea is yet found, and that univerfally. 
All inquiry muft conduct us to the con- 
viction that the finite £C cannot by fearching 
find out " the infinite ; that c< man cannot, 
by his natural powers, attain to the know- 
ledge of his Maker." For although ex- 
ternal Nature makes it plain that " God 
is," and that He acts ; for, " the heavens 
declare ( c declarant,' make clear) the glory 
of God," the fupernatural mining forth 
from the natural : although, too, in the 



Revelation and Inspiration. 33 

world of thought, our knowledge and our 
confcience in turn bear witnefs to higher 
and deeper feelings than could fpring 
from our own limited faculties ; yet thefe 
are not our difcoveries of God, but, fo 
far as they go, His difcoveries of Him- 
felf to us. They are " the things which 
do appear," and conftitute that which 
"may be known of" God, by the ftudy 
of His outward works, and inward work- 
ings ; or, as philofophers would precifely 
exprefs it, by the objective and fubjeclive 
evidence He has given of Himfelf. 
Now, this is juft what is meant by " Na- 
tural Religion," an expreffion which, in 
our lips,* if rightly employed, will ever 
fignify, not what man eafily arrives at by 
the exercife of his own faculties, but that 
which God has made known in and by 
Nature, as comprehending the world 
without, and the world within us. 

Now, none of all this is f Revelation/ 
according to the proper intention of that 



34 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

word. It would be incorrecl: to fpeak of 
the fun, moon, and ftars, and of the 
human confcience, as f revealing' God. 
True " God has/' in a fenfe, fC fpoken " 
by the phenomena of the univerfe to the 
fpirit of man, fo that " there is no fpeech 
nor language" where "their voice" is 
not cc heard," and by thofe that have ears 
to hear, heard intelligently ; yet it is by 
facts hiftorkally conveying to us His 
" will concerning " us, that a c Revela- 
tion,' in the true fenfe, is made. It is a 
great error to contraft natural and re- 
vealed religion, (as is fometimes appa- 
rently done); but it is equally wrong to 
confound them. <c The mighty God, 
even the Lord, hath fpoken and called 
the earth, from the rifing of the fun unto 
the going down thereof," by a voice that 
founds from that very rifing and fetting. 
It is, however, <c out of Zion, the perfec- 
tion of beauty," that cc the light of the 
knowledge of the glory of God " " hath 



Revelation and Infpiration. 35 

mined," peculiarly and pre-eminently. 
Only in the communications He has been 
pleafed to make of himfelf to the earlier 
and the later Church, whether imme- 
diately or by His instruments, has God 
* revealed' Himfelf. 

For, that great faying, " No man hath 
feen God at any time : the only-begotten 
Son which is in the bofom of the Father, 
He hath declared Him," though found in 
the Gofpel, did not begin to be true under 
the Gofpel. Its language points this out; 
" Who is in the bofom of the Father," 
taking the thoughts at once to the words, 
" Before Abraham was, I AM ; " and an- 
nouncing the truth, that it is one and the 
fame Divine Being who appeared and fpake 
to Adam, to Abraham, to Mofes, and to 
the Prophets, and who " was made flefh" 
" for us men, and for our falvation," in 
the perfon of "our Lord Jesus Christ." 
The Eternal Word is the Revealer of 
God, whether "in times paft, unto the 



36 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

Fathers," or cc in thefe laft days, unto us." 
By the agency of none other did God 
declare, though, properly fpeaking, He 
did not c reveal ' Himfelf in the <f things 
which do appear " of the material world, 
infomuch that they who liften not to this 
teaching cc are without excufe." f f It was 
the office of the Divine Word " (says 
Athanafius), " who, by His peculiar pro- 
vidence and fetting in order of the uni- 
verfe, affords inftruftion concerning the 
Father, to renew that fame instruction." 
It will be {qqr that this view goes far 
beyond the poet's fentiment of admiring 
praife : 

*' The fpacious firmament on high, 
With all the blue ethereal Iky, 
And fpangled heavens, a mining frame, 
Their great Original proclaim : 

" The unwearied fun, from day to day, 
Doth his Creator's power difplay, 
And publifhes to ev'ry land, 
The work of an Almighty hand : 



Revelation and Infpiration. 37 

with its added comment, when of the 
moon, ftars, and planets, he fays : 

" What, though no real voice nor found 
Amidft their radiant orbs be found ; 
In reafon's ear they all rejoice, 
And utter forth a glorious voice ; 
For ever finging as they fhine, 
'The hand that made us is divine.' " 

By all which he can only be understood 
to convey, that every thoughtful beholder 
of the celeftial fyftem muft come to the 
concluiion, that God was its Maker. It 
maintains that the Word, as Divine and 
from eternity creative, and the Word, as 
making direct fpoken communications to 
man, is one and the fame ; the Logos, 
"the manifeftative Utterer" of God's will. 
Yet, it may not be faid ({imply becaufe 
it would not be theologically correct to 
fay), that the Creative Word f revealed ' 
anything to man : only the Word fpeak- 
ing did this. 

Now, if the revelation made to Adam 



38 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

and to Abraham and to Mofes under 
the earlier epochs, and in the perfon of 
Jesus Christ under the later, was not 
to be loft, it muft be preferved by fome 
record made of it : in no other way can 
we conceive of its being tranfmitted, 
and becoming perpetual. Does any fuch 
document prefent itfelf ? We know that 
it does, in a volume exifting under the 
title of l the Bible,' or, ' the Holy Scrip- 
tures.' While the former of thefe familiar 
terms fuggefts the pre-eminence of the 
record in queftion, the latter afTerts the 
direct connection of the cc Scriptures," of 
the collective document, with God Him- 
felf. The attribute " Holy" means this : 
prefixed to certain writings, it claims 
for them a fpecial, a proper relation- 
fhip to the Holy Spirit, as their 
Author. 

And thus we are conducted to the 
fubject of Infpiration. Here, too, it is 
neceflary to inquire into the origin of the 



Revelation and Infpiration. 39 

term. We are familiar with it, frequently 
ufing it, or hearing it ufed ; and we attach 
fome fenfe to it. 1 But whence has it 
come? The etymology, or derivation of a 
word will not always determine its fenfe : 
it may, and generally will be a help to 
that end, but it will not always of itfelf 
fix its meaning ; for, a word may have 
been fubjected to many influences which 
affect its fignification. We cannot always 
take a word to pieces, and having found 
its original elements, decide what it does, 
by arguing what, as fprung from fuch 
and fuch fources, it ought to mean. 

The word f infpiration,' like that al- 
ready analyfed, comes (we know) from 
the Latin, that is, immediately ; and fo, 
regarded in its ftruclure, might, like ' re- 
velation,' defcribe either the procefs, or 

1 "Ufe and tradition have confecrated" this 
word " to exprefs the reverence which all Chriftians 
truly feel for the Old and New Teftaments.'' — 
EJfay " On the Interpretation of Scripture," p. 344. 



40 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

the refult; but, juft as by that word are 
ufually meant c the truths revealed/ fo 
by the term now under confederation is 
generally intended a quality or character- 
iftic of the Bible. He who maintains the 
infpiration of the Scriptures, is by all 
underftood to teach that the Scriptures 
are infpired. 

But we come back to the queftion, 
Whence the term? Its elements, we 
are well aware, are Latin : Spiro, f to 
breathe,' in, c into.' But, as the Latin is 
not the original language of the Old 
Teftament, or of the New, we muft 
fearch yet further. So we mail find that 
the warrant for the term c infpiration,' is 
contained in a word in the Greek of the 
New Teftament, which, while it embraces 
the bafis-element (indeed, efTentially the 
whole) of the term c infpiration,' includes 
more, and that a moft important addition. 
That word is c GoD-breathed.' So that, 
while f infpiration' fpeaks of a f breathing 



Revelation and Infpiration. 41 

into/ its original fays far more, and pro- 
nounces concerning that to which it is 
attached as the attribute, that it is 'of 
God.' This is not, indeed, the only 
parTage which afferts the Divine original 
of the Scriptures, but in directnefs it 
ftands alone, and is to that end fo explicit, 
that if nothing but this were found in 
the Bible on the point, we mould pofTefs, 
in the words " All Scripture is God- 
breathed," the moft ample affurance 
upon a point of fundamental import- 
ance. 

For thoughtful and candid minds it 
were enough to be able to gather fatisfac- 
tion on this head, indireclly, and by in- 
ference : but when it is remembered how 
many minds are weak, and hefitating, not 
to take into account all that clafs over 
which prejudice cafts a cloud, it is to be 
regarded as a momentous advantage, and 
a ground of thankfulnefs that we pofTefs 
a witnefs fo clear, fo unqualified, as that 



42 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

which the words now under our thoughts 
furnifh. No ftudent of the Sacred Re- 
cord, however much his perfonal convic- 
tion may be made up of the c inward 
witnefs' of the Spirit, however true it may 
be that the evidence which is deeper! 
lodged in his foul, and is there fail 
riveted, even as the chain which ties the 
fhip to the rock, is the felt adaptation of 
God's Word to his foul's need ; there is 
no fuch ftudent but will rejoice in that 
dogma, {landing out like a headland in 
the fea, fharp, bold, and patent to every 
eye, " All Scripture is breathed of 
God." 

Such, then, is the origin, fuch the 
authority of Scripture. But the very 
term carries the mind on to the further 
inquiry, 'Upon whom breathed ? ' The reply 
to which has been already given, in effecl:, 
when it was faid that God's Revelation 
could become enduring, for the ufe of 
the Church in all future generations, only 



Revelation and Infpiration. 43 

in one way, namely, by being committed 
to writing, this neceffarily implying 
writers. 

The penmen of the books which com- 
pofe the Bible, then, are they into whom 
God c breathed ' the qualifications, what- 
ever they were, by the exercife of which 
His will concerning man was to be made 
known. 

It may be thought unnecefTary to refer 
to the ideas held by fome perfons on the 
fubject of infpiration. Ideas, indeed, they 
can fcarcely be called ; for, judging from 
the language of by far the greater num- 
ber of thofe who are ever heard to fpeak 
on the point, the notions entertained are 
moft vague, the apprehenfions mofl dim. 
The term * infpired writers,' as ufed by 
fuch, exprerTes juft what c facred writers,' 
or, c the writers of the Old and New Tefta- 
ment,'does. As employed by thefe perfons, 
it merely points to the books, not to any 
chara&eriftics which diftinguifhed the 



44 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

writers, 1 or their writings. This is clearly 
a thoughtlefs employment of the term, 
and, therefore, not calling for any notice, 
except fo far as the habit of ufing words 
without reflection has a pernicious influ- 
ence upon the mind, by accuftoming it to 
reft fatisfied with faint and general im- 
pre (lions upon fubjects in which clearnefs 
and precifion are all-important, and may 
be attained. To which ill effects upon 
the minds of thofe who allow themfelves 
in the lax ufe of terms, may be added thofe 
which are wrought upon the minds of 
others who hear and readily acquiefce in 
thofe lax ftatements, through the like in- 
difpofition to fubjedl the mind to ftridt- 

1 An undue degree of importance is affigned by 
fome who treat of this fubjedl:, beween the infpira- 
tion of the writers, and the infpiration of the 
writings. Indeed, the diftindtion itfelf is one which 
it is not very eafy to apprehend : for it is not of them 
as ' men,' but as the 'pen-men ' of Holy Scripture 
that we fpeak. If, as ' writers,' they were infpired, 
furely fo were their ' writings.' 



Revelation and Infpiration. 45 

nefs in its conceptions ; whereby the evil 
is propagated, and, like a pebble caft into 
the waters, fpreads itfelf to an almost 
endlefs number of circles. 

But, turning from this clafs, if we look 
at thofe who do recognife in the term 
fome reference to the condition of the 
minds of the Writers, the utmoft indif- 
tindtnefs will be found to prevail. Seldom 
is it accompanied by anything beyond a 
glimpfe of the belief that the framers of 
the contents of the Bible were inftructed 
and guided by God, in fome fenfe ; but in 
what fenfe there feems to be no diftincl:- 
nefs of idea. We can imagine fome of 
this fort replying, f The fubjecl: is myf- 
terious.' We admit that it is fuch in a 
very high degree, and that the manner of 
infpiration, how it was wrought in the 
fouls of His " fervants the Prophets," 
is of "the fecret things" that "belong 
unto the Lord our God." But in this, 
as in all other matters connected with 



46 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

religious belief, inquiry is not irreverent, 
nay, is efTentially requifite, if our faith is 
to be intelligent ; and unlefs it be fo, it 
will be "nothing worth," merely nega- 
tive, rather unbelief than belief. It is 
not prefumptuous to examine into the 
fenfe of terms which, if we were to hefi- 
tate to employ in reipect of things facred, 
our hesitation would immediately caufe 
our orthodoxy to be fufpe&ed. So that 
we may lawfully inquire into the meaning 
of c infpiration,' as applied to the books 
which make up the Bible, as there is, 
unquestionably, no topic in the whole 
compafs of theology which porTeffefs more 
intereft than this. For, if the Scriptures 
of the Old and New Testament come to 
us as the charter of our falvation, if we 
are taught that in them " the God of the 
fpirits of all flefh " has fpoken to the 
" reafonable foul " which He has formed, 
it is impoffible to conceive of any fubject 
that can more delightfully engage our 



Revelation and Infpiration. 47 

thoughts, than that which relates to the 
conditions under which thofe " holy men 
of God," whom in their words and re- 
cords we believe to have been "moved 
by the Holy Ghost," did actually 
c fpeak,' and write. 




CHAPTER II. 




Ordinary and Special 
Inspiration. 

'HAT infpiration is eflen- 
tially, may be regarded as 
fettled in the term c God- 
breathed,' that noble com- 
pound, which, as if to keep the Church 
always right in the main, upon fo vital a 
point, the Holy Spirit (whofe own proper 
Name is from the fame flock) has fupplied, 
affixing it to the entire Scriptures ; for, 
though it is by the Apoftle applied ftri&ly 
only to the c Jewifh ' Scriptures, we muft 
fuppofe that he claimed for the Chriftian 



Ordinary and Special Infpiration. 49 

records no lefs an authority than he con- 
ceded to the Hebrew Canon. The Spirit 
of God imprefling, informing the natural 
faculties, so as to produce a refult diftincT: 
from, and beyond any that could have 
followed the mere exercife of thofe facul- 
ties ; that is what we have in our thoughts 
when we fpeak of the authors of the 
feveral books that make up the Bible 
as being c infpired.' When " the Lord 
God breathed into his noftrils the breath 
of life, man became a living foul." When 
He imparted to the fouls of certain perfons 
the faculty of recording whether fome 
new truths which He had communicated 
to them only, or fome hiftorical fads 
known to them either by the teftimony or 
their own eyes, or of others on whom they 
could rely, there was a Divine communi- 
cation independent of, and beyond that 
by which " man became a living foul," 
peculiar to thofe on whom it was conferred, 
and fpecial for the f accomplishment of 



50 Infptration of the Holy Scriptures. 

the ends for which the agency of thofe 
men rather than of any other had been 
fele&ed. 

Some help towards a clear perception 
of this matter we may gain by fixing our 
attention upon other places of Scripture, 
with the occafions belonging to them, 
where the fundamental elements of the 
word f infpiration' are found. For, com- 
parifon illuftrates : and we cannot err in 
comparing the terms " not which man's 
wifdom teacheth, but which the Holy 
Ghoft teacheth." Now, we read in St. 
John, that the Lord Jesus " breathed on 
them" (the difciples), and faid, <f Receive 
ye the Holy Ghoft," to c certify them by ' 
that f fign of His Spirit ever being, not 
only with,' but upon and in them, for the 
work that lay before them, and to which 
they were then ordained. Nor may we 
doubt that, coincidently with that fign, 
they were "endued with power." 

But, it is the meaning of that action 



Ordinary and Special Infpiration. 5 1 

of the Lord as illuftrative of the point 
before us with which we are immediately- 
concerned. The natural breath of Jesus 
was not the Holy Ghoft, though (as has 
been faid), it may have been accompanied 
by that Divine gift. Far more important, 
however, is it to dwell upon that which it 
unquestionably was ; a fign offered to 
their fenfes, a token which they faw and 
felt, of ■power from without to " dwell 
with" them, and to f c be in" them, whereby 
they mould be enabled unto all the parts 
of their work, whether to preach, or act, 
or write. Carry, now, this thought (of 
( breathing-upon' as importing power), to 
the " GoD-breathed" Scriptures, and you 
are greatly aided in forming an idea of 
that c infpiration' which we claim for the 
Sacred Writers. cc Without " Christ, 
f apart from ' Him and His Spirit, they 
could <f do nothing" as inftruments for 
the guiding of the Church " into all 
truth:" while "through Christ," c who 



52 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

gave them inward power/ they could " do 
all things " demanded by their miflion. 

An influence defcending into the human 
foul, mingling with its natural faculties, 
and working fome refult which but for 
that operation from without, could not 
have been exhibited ; this, we conceive, 
is the effential idea of Infpiration. 

This would feem to be the fit place for 
introducing a caution againft being mifled 
by two ufes of the word c infpiration,' 
which are by no means identical with the 
fenfe in which it applies to the writers of 
the books which compofe the Bible. The 
one inftance is from the Scriptures, the 
other is from the Englifh Liturgy. In 
the 1 Book of Job are found the following 
words : " But there is a fpirit in man, 
and the infpiration of the Almighty giveth 
them understanding." It is evident, from 
the connection in which thefe words are 
found, that no more was intended by them, 
(and therefore that no more can be de- 

1 Job xxxii. 8. 



Ordinary and Special Infpiration. 5 3 

duced from them), than that the under- 
standing which dwells in the foul of man, 
and which is to be its guide, is a faculty 
imparted to it by the Almighty, a direct 
communication from God. Clearly, then, 
would it be a mifreprefentation of their 
meaning, were any to contend, from thefe 
words, that Infpiration rifes no higher than 
intelligence, and that every reafonable 
man is infpired. 

It would be eafy to fhow how illogical 
is the procefs in any fuch method of ar- 
guing, while yet we know that its un- 
foundnefs offers no fecurity againfl: its being 
confidently adopted by fome. A warn- 
ing, therefore, againfl: being mifled by it 
cannot be fuperfluous, when it is remem- 
bered, that the admiflion of it as valid 
would amount to a total overthrow of 
Biblical infpiration, in that peculiar fenfe 
in which we have ever been accuftomed 
to think of it. 

The other error againfl which a caution 



54 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

is needed, is that of fuppofing the infpira- 
tion of which ordinary Chriftians are the 
fubjects, and that of the Scripture-writers, 
to be the fame. Neither is this to be 
treated as a light mifconception : rather is 
it a very ferious one, the odds to the 
authority of the Bible being infinite. 
God's " holy infpiration that we may 
think thofe things that be good," and as 
the power which is to cf cleanfe the thoughts 
of our hearts, that we may perfectly love 
Him, and worthily magnify His holy 
Name," this is indifpenfable for all, for the 
loweft and the higheft intellecl: alike ; for 
the moft unlettered, as for the moll learned 
member of the Chriftian congregation. 

But, not even the higheft meafure of 
perfonal fanctification would, of itfelf, 
form a qualification for becoming an in- 
fpired penman. We find fome who were 
endued tf . with fingular gifts of the Holy 
Ghoft," who were yet not called to the 
talk of committing to writing any of thofe 



Ordinary and Special Infpiration. $$ 

revelations and facts which were to make 
up the future Canon of Scripture. Very 
different (if we may judge from fome 
modern fpeculations on this matter), might 
have been the courfe purfued, had it been 
left to man to felect, from the company 
of them that believed, the perfons who 
mould record God's Truth. The holieft 
men would, probably, have been fixed 
upon as therefore the fittefl: writers. But 
the Lord "feeth not as man feeth ;" and, 
befides holinefs of heart, there were re- 
quired, in His unerring judgment, certain 
endowments of mind, fuch as He had im- 
planted in one and not in another, of the 
true members of the ff houfehold of faith." 
It is eafy to conceive that fome difciple 
might be f f fteadfaft and unmoveable " in 
the faith, and " abounding in the work of 
the Lord," and yet lack thofe qualifications 
of mind, and even of the general character, 
the porTeflion of which was effential to the 
tafk of committing to writing " the word 



56 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

of the Lord." Do we not fee how to 
one man is given fwiftnefs of foot, fo that 
he excels as a runner ; to another dexterity 
of hand, fo that he becomes a fkilful me- 
chanic ; and to a third, ability and aptnefs 
of fome other and different form ; each 
becoming, by virtue of his diftinctive 
talent, ufeful in his place; while yet, neither 
of them mould be able to write down the 
principles of the art, or fcience, in which 
he was an adept ? And fee we not, by 
analogy, how there might well be eminent 
goodnefs and devotednefs in fome or all 
of "thofe men that companied with" the 
Apoftles, " all the time that the Lord 
Jesus went in and out among" them, while 
yet there mould not be found, in the fame 
men, the endowments that could make 
them fuitable channels for conveying the 
" mind of Chrift " to the Church ? 

Obvious as fuch views may be to 
reflecting minds, they are yet far from 
being admitted by all arguers on this 



Ordinary and Special Infpiration. $j 

Subject, while from not attending to the 
diftindtion which has here been infifted on, 
the moft ferious errors have followed. 
For this reafon, it were to have been 
wifhed that the fame word had not been 
neceflary to denote the extraordinary and 
the ordinary operation of the Holy Spirit. 
The latter is truly defignated infpira- 
tion ;' fo is the former : but, the dis- 
tinction to be made, in fpeaking of thefe 
two afpects of the Spirit's work, is fo 
important as to have made a different 
term moft defirable, could fuch have been 
found. Some writers, indeed, have adop- 
ted the word f theopneuftia,' as in itfelf 
precife, and alfo marking the difference 
in queftion. But, if it is undefirable to 
difcard an eftablifhed term, it is the more 
neceffary to define its meaning, and to 
feparate its ufe in connection with one 
clafs of objects, from the fenfe which it 
properly bears when applied to another. 
Of the remarks which have been made 



58 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

this is the fum. The Sacred Writers 
were not fitted for their tafk, merely by 
the pofTeflion of a high meafure of per- 
fonal holinefs : nor were they difqualified 
by reafon of the " weaknefs of" that 
"mortal nature" which in common with 
other men they inherited. Eminent 
fanctity would not, of itfelf, bring up a 
difciple of Chrift to the ftandard of 
1 theopneuftia,' fo that he could, out of 
the refources of a mind " renewed in 
knowledge after the image of Him that 
created him," write the word of God. 
The moft fpiritual Ifraelite, under the 
Old Covenant, and the moft faithful fol- 
lower of the Lord Jesus Christ, under 
the New, muft remain on this fide of the 
line of demarcation that feparates the un- 
infpired from the infpired, unlefs fome 
new communication mail be made to their 
minds, of " heavenly things" before un- 
known, and a fpecial guidance vouchfafed, 
fo as that they might fpeak and write of 



Ordinary and Special Infpiration. 59 

the new truths imparted to them after an 
infallible manner. On the other hand, 
the prefence of flefhly infirmity would not 
render them ineligible for becoming the 
channels through which the purpofes of 
God in Jesus Christ mould be made 
known to the Church : for then, man 
could never have been employed at all of 
that end ; for, ff there is no man that" is 
not fubjecT: to "like paffions" with the 
reft of his race. His devotednefs to the 
fervice of Christ, though an effential 
prerequifite in his character, did not 
qualify Paul for preaching " Christ's 
Gofpel," or for writing his great Letter to 
the Romans, any more than the fervent 
zeal of Peter, or the affectionate attach- 
ment of John to his Lord, qualified the 
one and the other to compofe the Epiftles 
they have left to the Church : rather was 
it a diftind endowment, conferred on 
them as it was not on other good men, 
their fellow- believers, who were not 



60 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

c called to be Apoftles,' and penmen of 
the Holy Ghoft. 

And, here, for the fake of marking 
by one compact term, (as is always con- 
venient where it can be done without 
injury to truth), the diftinction on 
which we have dwelt, between ordinary 
and fpecial infpiration, there might be a 
temptation to adopt the language em- 
ployed, even by fome able writers, and 
to fay, that between the infpiration of 
Prophets and Apoftles, on the one hand, 
and that of ordinary members of the 
Church, on the other, the difference is one 
of kind. But is not this to be regarded 
as an artificial refinement, rather than an 
authorized diftin&ion ? and, does not the 
Scripture refufe to be fo trammelled ? 
When any lay it down as an axiom that 
the work of the Holy Ghoft in the Sacred 
Writers, c generically' differed from that 
of which good men, now, are the fubjects, 
do they not lay themfelves open to the 



Ordinary and Special Infpiration. 6 1 

charge of too much fyftematizing, and of 
travelling beyond the limits which the 
Holy Ghoft Himfelf has prefcribed? 
Divine truth will not bow to canons of 
this fort, which may be juft in themfelves, 
and are often neceflary inftruments for 
coercing human thought when exercifed 
upon " earthly things," but by which the 
wifdom that hath come forth from the 
bofom of God may not be fquared. Is 
it necefTary, can it be thought lawful, to 
attempt greater precifion on this point, 
than that which the Holy Spirit Himfelf, 
by the mouth of the Apoftle whom He 
taught, has ufed in treating of this very 
fubject ? The language employed, in the 
place referred to, is moft exprefs : none 
more dogmatic can be found in any part 
of the Writings of the Apoftles. The 
following is offered as a juft paraphrafe 
of the paffage : f There are diftindtions 
of endowments, but the fame Spirit : and, 
diftinctions of fervices' (in which thefe 



62 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

endowments would find the fcope for 
their exercife), c but the fame Lord : and 
diftinctions in the effects wrought ; whilft 
it is the fame God who worketh thefe 
effects in all the pofTeffors of thefe en- 
dowments. But while in all, the Spirit 
manifefts Himfelf as the Author of the 
effects wrought, He diftributes to each 
perfon, feparately, as He will.' 

Upon a point fo occult as this (as, indeed, 
upon fome others of the fame high and 
myfterious nature), it were both reverential 
and fafe to keep ourfelves within the limits 
which are indicated by Scripture itfelf when 
thisfubject is treated of in its pages. Unlefs 
we do fo, ours may be the fault of " in- 
truding into thofe things which" we have 
cc not feen," and of being f wife in our 
own conceits.' Its teaching upon the 
point before us feems to amount to this : 
Both thofe who originally compofed, and 
thofe who now fimply obey, the Bible, are 
to be thought of as "taught of God ;" 
but, each after a different manner. 



CHAPTER III. 

The Mechanical Theory is 
Exploded. 

HERE is nothing unreafon- 
able in fuppofing that God 
may have endowed certain 
men with faculties peculiar 
to them, becaufe he would employ them 
as inftruments for making known His 
purpofes to mankind. We fay 'faculties / 
for it is clear to every reflecting perfon 
that it is through the powers of the mind 
infpiration acts. Another theory, indeed, 
long prevailed, (if it was not rather a 




64 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

confufed ' notion ' than a clearly-defined 
theory), that God caufed certain men 
whom He feledted for that purpofe, to 
write down a number of words which 
He dictated. "With the few who ever 
flopped to inquire what infpiration meant, 
there was an <f unthinking acquiefcence " 
in that view, which held the ground 
without any rival almoft for ages ; while 
in the lips of the many, the word 'in- 
fpiration' merely expreffed an inward 
reverence felt towards the Bible, as pof- 
femng a character unlike any other book. 
The clofer thought, however, which 
this fubjecT: has received, if it has not 
ifTued in a general agreement upon all 
the points it includes, has at leaft ended 
in men's minds being thoroughly dif- 
fatisfied with thofe loofe opinions which 
had fo long exifted. Thus much, at 
leaft, is now feen, that to move the hands 
was not to act upon the mind ; whereas 
the old notion of infpiration began and 



The Mechanical Theory Exploded. 65 

ended in attributing the former agency to 
the Divine Author of the Scriptures, the 
mental faculties of thofe whom He em- 
ployed being in utter abeyance. Not 
that a f doctrine ' to this effect was main- 
tained ; there was no c doctrine ' at all ; 
but the ideas that floated about upon 
the fubject, as difcovered by the terms 
ufed in talking and writing, refolved 
themfelves into the fancy already alluded 
to, properly defignated the mechanical 
theory, inafmuch as it prefents man as a 
f machine,' and nothing more. 

There are, probably, not two minds in 
the univerfe precifely alike in their con- 
struction, as there are not two faces 
alike, although every human countenance 
is compofed of features phyfically the 
fame. The difference between one face 
and another is feen in the proportions of 
the features, and in the manner in which 
they are adjufted together. In one, fome 
features predominate, fome are fubordi- 



66 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

nate ; fome ftand out, fome are fubdued : 
and of this height and depreflion you 
mall fee modifications carried out through 
a long feries of faces, every one of which 
might be called beautiful, and claim to 
hold a place in a gallery of pictures, or 
of bufts. Is not the cafe fuch and flmilar 
in the world of mind ? and, if fo, why 
may it not be true ; nay, is it not highly 
probable that He who faid to Pharaoh, 
fC For this have I raifed thee up, for to 
mew in thee my power," may have, in 
like manner, raifed up, for the exprefs 
end of making them channels of commu- 
nication between His own mind and the 
minds of the whole family of man, certain 
perfons whom He accordingly moulded 
to that purpofe, as the potter fafhions the 
clay in his hands, bringing out by his art 
veffels of various fhapes and capacity, 
fome which are deftined to higher ufes, 
being therefore of finer material and more 
exquifite workman (hip ? 



The Mechanical Theory Exploded. 6j 

Such a view as this is inconfiftent with 
that which (as has been already faid), fo 
Jong prevailed ; rather, however, as a con- 
fufed notion than a well-defined theory 
of infpiration, that the Sacred Writers 
were caufed to put down a number of 
prefcribed words and fyllables, no other, 
not any more or any lefs than thofe which 
were appointed for them. By this fancy, 
which fo long held the ground alone and 
undifputed, man, though employed as 
the inftrument, was wholly paffive, his 
part being purely and merely c organic,' 
according to the ftricT: fenfe of that 
word, as framed from the Greek original 
fignifying { a tool.' 

This has been the favourite fyftem of 
many religious minds ; or rather, language 
to this effect is often heard to proceed 
from perfons of that character. We 
would think and fpeak honouringly of 
them for their piety, but muft exprefs 
our diffent from their ideas on this fub- 



68 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

ject. It is their very humility, their 
defire ever to abafe the creature and to 
exalt the Creator, that makes them cling 
to a view which, probably, they have 
never examined ; but, in their defire to 
uphold the principle that cc all things are 
of God," they reprefent Him as irra- 
tionally ufing His rational creature. 

This idea of infpiration can refer, in- 
deed, for its fan6lion, to no lefs an autho- 
rity than the pious and wife c Hooker ; ' ' 

1 " They [the Prophets] neither fpake nor wrote 
any word of their own, but uttered fyllable by 
fyllable as the Spirit put it in their mouths, no 
otherwife than the harp or the lute doth give a 
found according to the difcretion of his hands that 
holdeth and ftriketh it with ikill." — Serm. V. 4., 
vol. iii. Works, Oxford, 1841. 

" When fuch illuftrations are applied to men 
as the agents of the Holy Spirit, we fhould 
remember that the tone and quality of the note 
depend as much upon the inftrument itfelf as upon 
the hand which fweeps over its firings." — Pro- 
fessor Lee's Donnellan Lettures on Infpiration, 
p. 80. 



The Mechanical Theory Exploded. 69 

but muft, neverthelefs, be examined upon 
its own merits. The obvious fault in it 
is that it feems to teach that God did not 

The excellent and learned Bifhop Jewel, too, 
went the fame length as Hooker, and even farther : 
"There is no fentence, no claufe, no word, no 
fyllable, no letter, but it is written for thy inftruc- 
tion." — A Treatife of The Holy Scriptures : edition 
1607, p. 37. 

To thefe and other defervedly-high names we 
owe deference, but not uninquiring fubmiffion. In- 
deed, upon the prefent, and all points not deter- 
minate^ laid down in the Word of God, we only 
exercife " the liberty wherewith Christ hath made 
us free," when to one who afks us to what 'fchool' 
of religious opinion we belong, 
("Ac ne forte roges, quo me duce, quo Lare tuter? ") 
we reply, 

" Nullius addittus jurare in verba magiftri:" 

taking good care, however, that our ftate of mind is 

far from that defcribed in the following line : 

"Quo me cunque rapit tempeftas, deferor hofpes ;" 

Horace, Ep. i. i. 14-16. 

" Carried about with every wind of doftrine." 

"Whatever writers I may refer to," fays Arch- 
bifhop Whately, " whether of fmall or of great repu- 
tation, I do not mean to appeal to any as of decifive 



jo Infpiratio?i of the Holy Scriptures. 

ufe the mental faculties of the writers at 
all, but fuperfeded them, " the human 
agent contributing no more than the pen 
of a fcribe ; in a word, he was the pen, 1 
not the penman, of the Spirit." 

If this theory be exploded, (for thought- 
ful minds it never did nor ever can 
fatisfy), it has to be confidered in what 
manner the faculties of the minds of the 



authority, or to adopt them as guides. Some of 
them may be fuch as to create more or lefs of a 
prefumption in favour of their opinions till fatisfac- 
torily refuted. Others may fupply valuable tefti- 
mony as to the prevailing opinions in their time, or 
may fuggeft arguments which are to be judged of 
according to their intrinfic weight : but I have 
learned to ' call no man matter upon earth,' and to 
make a final appeal to nothing but the records of 
infpiration, and the force of juft reafoning." — 
Preface to "EJJays on fome of the Peculiarities of 
the Chrifiian Religion.'''' 

1 "The mechanical, or verbal theory, however 
pioufly intended, really had the effect of degrading the 
Sacred Writers almoft into automatons." — Rev. A. 
S. Farrar's Bampton Leclures. 



The Mechanical Theory Exploded. 7 1 

Sacred Writers were enlifted for the work 
they had to do. In what way, under 
what conditions, were they made to exe- 
cute their allotted tafk of conveying 
God's truth to their fellow men ? Now, 
in this it is clear that one of the two 
elements, the divine and the human, muft 
take the lead. Either the memory and 
the judgment muft go firft, and the fug- 
geftions of the Divine Spirit be made 
fubordinate to them ; or, the latter muft 
precede, the former following in fubjec- 
tion to them. On the firft fuppofition 
the work is, to all effects, a human pro- 
duction, and its authority to be deter- 
mined by the worth (at whatever efti- 
mated), of the arguments which it con- 
tains founded on reafon, the confeffedly 
predominating, though not the exclufive 
element : or, it is a fuperhuman book, a 
Volume of authorfhip properly divine, 
becaufe it originated in the Divine pur- 
pofe to make a communication to man, 



7 2 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

the human mind being the channel 
through which that truth was to be con- 
veyed. Now, as no one for a moment 
hefitates to admit that this latter is what 
he means when he fpeaks of the c Word 
of God,' fo all muft acknowledge that 
the Divine influence muft prefide, and 
the human agency be merely its fervant 
and inftrument. Still, the human ele- 
ment does work, as truly as the Divine. 

We may venture to hint at an analogy 
to this cafe, to be feen in the union of 
the Godhead and the manhood, in the 
perfon of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every 
orthodox Chriftian knows into what a 
herefy he would be inftantly precipitated, 
were he to fuppofe, that of the two na- 
tures which compofed His myfterious 
Perfon, the human was the diftinguifhing 
one, and that the Divine was f given by 
meafure unto Him ; ' c the right faith ' 
being c that we believe and confefs that ' 
the Divine, which preceded even from 



The Mechanical Theory "Exploded. 73 

eternity, did, for mediatorial ends, afTume 
the human, the Eternal Son c taking the 
manhood into God,' fo that the Perfon of 
Christ was, as touching His Godhead, 
equal, f as touching His manhood, inferior 
to the Father.' And yet we hold that in 
the manhood of Christ, all the faculties 
of the human foul were in as full exercife 
as they are in any of c us men ' who are 
merely human, while all were penetrated 
and infinitely illumined by the fC fullnefs 
of the Godhead " which fC dwelt in Him 
bodily." Does there not feem to be a 
proportion (immeafurably as the cafes are 
removed from each other) ; or, at leaft, 
a likenefs, fuch a refemblance as ferves 
to illuftrate the point before us, between 
the union of the Divine and human 
natures in the Perfon of Christ, and 
that of the Divine Spirit and the human 
faculties, in the cafe of thofe men whom 
God called to the work of conveying 
His truth to mankind? Both elements 



74 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

were prefent, the fupernatural and the 
natural ; but the former prefided over and 
controlled the work of which the latter 
was to be the instrument. Nor do we 
only fay that fo it was : we add, fo it muft 
needs have been. Man was to be reached 
through the medium of his affections : 
1 " Speak thou with us, and we will hear," 
faid the people to Mofes. If any man is 
to be led to draw near and liften, the 
fpeaker muft be a man like himfelf. As 
he cannot endure the fight of God un- 
veiled and direct, fo he cannot endure to 
hear the words of God founding imme- 
diately in his ears. Accordingly, the 
medium can be none other than man, his 
own fellow being : and if fo, then it muft 
be the mind of his fellow that is to fpeak 
to his own mind, the faculties being 
allowed their full play, without any force 
being employed to urge them forward, 
or to keep them back. More than this ; 

1 Exod. xx. 19. 



The Mechanical Theory Exploded. j$ 

we cannot but fuppofe that each writer 
was chofen and fent to the work given 
him to do, becaufe the native mould of 
his mind was juft that which the Divine 
mind forefaw would exhibit the truth as 
God willed that it mould be exhibited, the 
type of mind of each writer having been 
originally carl by the Infinite Mind itfelf. 
Doubtlefs it was His f everlafting pur- 
pofe ' to throw the truth which He would 
make known to man as the c means of 
his falvation,' into thofe forms of thought 
and expreffion which belonged character- 
iftically to each of thofe whom He em- 
ployed, juft becaufe each truth fo con- 
ceived, and fo uttered, would precifely 
exprefs His will. He who once, in long 
anticipation, faid ! " of Cyrus, He is my 
fhepherd, and mall perform all my plea- 
fure," had " conftantly decreed by His 
fecret counfel," to raife up each of the 
Evangelifts, and of the other New Tefta- 

1 Ifaiah xliv. 28. 



J 6 Infpiratlon of the Holy Scriptures. 

ment writers, cc when the fulnefs of the 
time" for their fervices fhould have 
cc come." cc Before the foundations of 
the world were laid," He faid of them 
feverally, as of <c vefTels made to honour," 
of Matthew and his fellow-hiftorians, and 
in turn of Paul, and Peter, and John, 
cc He is my fervant, and fhall perform all 
my pleafure;" fhall conceive, and preach, 
and write "the word of" My "falvation," 
as I mail fill his mind, and move his 
tongue, and guide his pen. 

If it fhall feem to any that an operation 
fo ftringent as this amounts to that very 
mechanical agency againft which we have 
been arguing, let him weigh well the two 
cafes, and he will probably be brought to 
fee how wide the difference is between 
merely employing the lips or the fingers 
of a man, to fpeak or to write down a 
certain number of words and fyllables, 
(dead figns as far as he the utterer or the 
writer is concerned, however full of life 



The Mechanical Theory Exploded, jj 

in refpect of their author) ; and, the en- 
lifting of the rational foul of the fame 
man as that which is to command the 
fervices of the tongue and the hand. 
f Why, there is all the difference in the 
world,' as we mould fay in common 
colloquial phrafe. For, think of the fteps. 
The Spirit of God firft fills the mind, in- 
forming and elevating it, without making 
it pamVe. The mind, confcious of this 
unufual illapfe of the Spirit, and of the 
fpecial commirTion implied in it, (for con- 
fcioufnefs of both thefe is an efTential 
condition of infpiration), employs the 
tongue as its inftrument to execute the 
commanded fervice to the men of the 
living generation, by crying in their ears, 
"Thus faith the Lord;" or elfe, the 
activity of the fingers to Cf take the roll 
of a book, and write therein " the revela- 
tion which had been made to it. 

An intelligent, orderly procefs, this. 
Not fo the other, which afferts that God 



y$ Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

fufpends the exercife of the reafon of the 
perfon He employs, or, at leaft, fets it 
afide for the time ; and making His own 
Spirit an immediate agent, moves the 
tongue or the hand of a man without any 
concurrence of his own will, whereas, at 
all other times, and for all other purpofes, 
he is excited to fpeak or to write by the 
confcious impulfe of his own will. Be- 
tween the higheft degree of conftraint 
which the Holy Spirit can be conceived 
as exercinng upon the tongue and hand 
through the mind of the writer, and upon 
both independently of his mind, the dif- 
ference is infinite. 

Some of the early Christian writers 
have adopted as illustrative of the opera- 
tion of the Spirit of God upon man's 
fpirit, in the matter of infpiration, the 
action of one who plays f f upon a harp or 
lyre, ftriking it with the plectrum." An 
elegant poetical fancy, and, kept within 
due limits, a juft illuftration : for there is 



The Mechanical Theory Exploded, 79 

an analogy. We fhall, however, incur 
danger of being mifled if we fo follow 
the illuftration as to attribute utter fub- 
ferviency to the human agent; an error 
into which we might eafily fall by fixing 
our eye upon the hand that ftrikes the 
lyre, and feeing how entirely it commands 
the firings, without equally remembering 
that there is a mufical note proper to each 
which cannot but be brought out when 
fmitten by the plectrum. The hand of the 
mufician and the natural found of the 
fixings go together ; nay, he ftrikes them 
in order to evoke the proper mufic of each. 
Juft in this manner, (we hold,) did the 
Spirit of God employ the natural facul- 
ties, the powers which Himfelf had im- 
planted, of the feveral men whom He 
chofe to write the books of the Bible. 

It was with this analogy in his thoughts 
thatOrigen writes, ' f ' Scripture, as a whole, 

1 Matt. v. 9. Tom. iii., p. 441, ed. Ben. Paris, 
1733- 



80 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

is God's perfect and complete inftrument, 
giving forth to thofe who wifh to learn its 
one faving mufic, from many notes com- 
bined, {tilling and restraining all Strivings 
of the Evil One, as David's mufic calmed 
the madnefs of Saul." 1 

We may accept this beautiful image, 

1 " All fuch illuftrations, no doubt, clearly recog- 
nize a relatively pafiive ftate in the facred penmen ; 
but they by no means imply that fuch a ftate in- 
volved inattion or unconfcioufnefs. On the con- 
trary, the decided manner in which the very writers 
who have made ufe of the fimilitudes in queftion 
oppofed the erroneous views as to Prophecy with 
which they had to contend, proves how fenfibly 
they felt the diftinftion which fubfifts between the 
vibration of the firings of an inftrument of mufic, 
and the pulfations of the human heart touched and 
animated by the Spirit of God. Add to this, the 
marked omiflion by the Fathers, where adopting the 
language and the analogies employed by Philo, of 
anyallufion to that fuppreflion of intellectual energy, 
and of the exercife of reafon which, as we have feen, 
was fo much infilled upon by the Jewifh philofo- 
pher." — Professor Lee's Donnellan Lettures on 
Infpiration, pp. 80, 81. 



The Mechanical Theory Exploded. 8 1 

and derive much instruction from it, if 
only we are careful to regulate its applica- 
tion. If we prefs the fimilitude too far, 
we fhall be Cf again entangled " in that 
theory of mechanical infpiration, about 
which all who give any ferious attention to 
the queftion are now agreed that it is 
auite untenable. 

In the courfe of this argument, the 
word c influence' has been ufed, in fpeak- 
ing of the Spirit's working upon the 
mind of one infpired. That term was 
ufed advifedly, in preference to c controul,' 
as denoting the ' flowing' of the mind of 
God c into' the foul of the human inftru- 
ment, as a ftream comes down from its 
fpring-head into a channel prepared to 
receive it, and along the bed of which it 
runs ; whereas ( controul,' taking the 
thoughts to the government which a 
charioteer exercifes over the horfes which 
he rules by the reins he holds in his 
hands, would feem to lay the ftrefs upon 



82 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

the human instrumentality, and make the 
mind of man to take the lead in the 
matter of infpiration ; for the power of 
the horfes is the main agent in the cafe of 
the chariot, however it is moderated by 
the Ikill of the guide. 




CHAPTER IV. 



The Scriptures were collected by 
Divine guidance: And^ the 
Old Tejlament is not out of 
date. 

HERE is one branch of the 
work of infpiration, one 
afpedt of the cafe, which 
is rarely dwelt upon by 
thofe who treat of this fubject. Much has 
been correctly faid concerning the fuper- 
natural guidance of the writers in com- 
pofing xh&irjeparate Works: of Matthew, 
in penning his f Gofpel ; ' of Luke, in 
1 fetting down in order ' the f Acts of the 
Apoftles ; ' of Paul, and Peter, and John, 




84 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

in composing their refpective Epiftles. 
Each, when he had conftru&ed his narra- 
tive, or penned his apoftolic Letter, had 
fulfilled his part. But how were all thefe 
portions to be brought together, fo as to 
form the total of that Truth by which the 
Church, in the generations to come, was to 
be taught ? There could be no fpontaneous 
confluence of thefe feveral ftreams : they 
could not unite without fome force from 
without to bring them together, while 
only in fuch union could they become the 
material of the permanent Faith of the 
Church. Unlefs, however, this cohefion 
had been effected, where had been the 
Faith of the Church ? To the infpiration 
of the Holy Ghost muft be referred 
this drawing together of the Angle parts 
which mould make up the whole Canon, 
the complete rule of the Church of 
Christ; the method employed being the 
fame as that by which the feparate Books 
had been compofed, namely, a faculty 



Collected by Divine Guidance. 8 5 

divinely imparted of difcriminating be- 
tween the pretentions to infpiration of 
thofe authors whofe writings were finally 
admitted into the Canon, and thofe of 
any others whofe books were rejected. 
Of this confolidation of the parts, as well 
as of the composition of each, it may be 
truly faid, " This hath God wrought." 

But here arifes the important queftion, 
What was the precife nature of the guid- 
ance of thofe men who collected together 
the Books which make up the Canon ? 
Was it infpiration of the firft, or of the 
fecond order ; infpiration -proper, or in- 
fpiration ordinary ? Was it fuch as dwelt 
in the writers of the Books, or was it of 
that fort which fome have pronounced to 
be f generically ' unlike this, although (for 
reafons already affigned) we have been 
content to call it c different,' though, per- 
haps, not c in kind'? Now St. John fays, 
towards the end of his Gofpel, that 
" many other figns truly did Jefus in the 



86 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

prefence of His difciples, which are not 
written in this Book : but thefe are written 
that ye might believe that Jesus is the 
Christ, the Son of God : and that 
believing, ye might have life through 
His Name." If it be inquired, Why 
were " thefe " (the evidences, probably, 
of the reality of His refurrection being 
here particularly intended ), " written," 
and thofe " other " not : how came it to 
pafs that thofe were left out of the re- 
cord, and thefe included ? It is plain : 
we have it from the Evangelift himfelf. 
He paifed over certain " flgns " which 
the Lord "did," with, as we muft fup- 
pofe, their attendant difcourfes and doc- 
trinal comments, fuch as had accompanied 
the " fign " vouchfafed to Thomas ; while 
he c wrote ' certain others. By what rule 
guided, for the infertion and the exclu- 
iion ? There can be no hesitation in 
furnifhing the reply. That Apoftle had 
"the mind of Christ" controlling his 



Collected by Divine Guidance. 87 

own mind, working upon the faculty of 
judgment, fo as that fome fads he mould 
leave out of his narrative, and put in 
others. If infallibility for choofing and 
refufing might be found in any, furely it 
may be looked for in him who was called 
to be an Apoftle and Evangelift. 

But, next to the fpecial direction which 
was needed for one who, like St. John, 
was to infert and omit from among the 
doings of the Lord of the Church, and 
on whofe infertions and omiffions was to 
hinge the Faith of the Church to the end 
of time, fo far as it was dependent upon 
the document which he compofed ; next 
to this, in order of importance, and de- 
manding a divine difcrimination, was the 
tafk to which they were called who 
formed the colleffion of the Books that 
mould make up the "Holy" (that is 
the f infpired') "Scriptures;" and more 
particularly, of the Books of the Old 
Teftament. 



88 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

In the cafe of the Books of the New 
Teftament, when their genuinenefs had 
been afcertained, all was accomplished 
that was necefTary to make out their 
claim to a place in the Canon. Let it be 
a fettled point that Matthew was indeed 
the writer of the narrative which bears 
his name, and there is no further queftion 
to be determined ; for the Lord Himfelf 
had c called Matthew from the receipt of 
cuftom, to be an Apoftle and Evangelift.' 
Let the authorfhip of the Epiftles to the 
Romans, Corinthians, and Ephefians, be 
fatisfa&orily afligned to St. Paul, and 
thofe writings at once take their place as 
part of the permanent c Rule' of the Faith 
of the Church ; for an immediate com- 
miffion from heaven had designated Paul 
to be the Apoftle of the Gentiles. So, 
too, it may be argued, in refpecl: of each 
of the remaining hiftorical Books and 
Letters of the New Teftament. Of each 
the author was either an apoftle, or other- 



Collected by Divine Guidance. 89 

wife clofely related to the Lord Jesus 
and His miniftry. But the authorfhip, 
and therefore the degree of authority 
attaching to each of the Books of the Old 
Teftament, was not fo obvious. Believing 
that the "Pentateuch" bears the ftamp 
of Heaven upon it, and that its credibility 
as a profefTed hiftorical record is fully 
made out, we muft yet perceive that the 
proof of its Mofaic origin is not fo imme- 
diate as that of the Books of the New 
Teftament. The fame is true of the 
remaining portions of the hiftorical Books 
of the Old Scriptures. Searching inquiry 
will conduct us to the fame conclufion as 
they arrived at who firft affigned to thofe 
writings the rank they hold. 

But ftill it is c fearching inquiry ' only 
that does this : the evidence does not lie 
upon the furface. So that fomething 
beyond common intelligence, fomething 
more than mere unaftifted acutenefs of 
mind, was neceflary to enable them, after 



90 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

fpreading open the literature of their own, 
and of preceding generations, and more 
particularly thofewritings which contained 
the religious element, " to refufe the evil 
and to choofe the good;" to diftinguifh 
between the "precious" and the "vile;" 
to difcriminate between <c the tares " and 
" the wheat," gathering the latter into 
God's ftorehoufe, to be, in combination 
with the New Teftament, the food of 
the Church for ever. 

The faculty which was to judge, from 
among the books which the world had 
produced, which contained the Will of 
God, and which did not anfwer the teft, 
muft itfelf (we fay) have been nothing 
fhort of c an' infpiration. Then, of what 
nature was it ? If we adopt the diftinclion 
which has been controverted in an earlier 
part of thefe remarks, we muft affign the 
collectors of the Books of the Old Tefta- 
ment either to the upper divifion, making 
them equal to the Apoftles and Evan- 



Co lie Bed by Divine Guidance, g i 

gelifts ; or, to the lower, to take their 
place with ordinary Chriftians ; an alter- 
native which muft tend to ftrengthen our 
dirTatisfaction with that common but, as 
we venture to think, unwarranted divi- 
fion. Endowments of the Spirit, very 
little fhort of the higher!, were needed for 
thofe whofe taik was to exercife C( a right 
judgment " in fuch a queftion. 

This divine difcernment which qualified 
the f Fathers of the primitive age ' to 
repudiate fome writings, and to ftamp 
others as entitled to be thenceforward and 
for ever the c rule ' of what mould be 
believed, this was indeed the "verifying 
faculty " for which fome contend ; by 
which phrafe, however (as expounded by 
the general views of the authors of it), 
feems to be intended, man's opinion as the 
tribunal to which that which calls itfelf 
infpired is to be brought, to be there 
tried as to how far it fquares with an idea 
of fitnefs fet up in the human mind, of 



92 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

all things the moft intangible, and of 
which no account can be rendered. 

The foregoing remarks upon the in- 
fpiration (whatever was its precife nature) 
of thofe who collected the Books of the 
Old Teftament, have been prompted by 
perceiving the growing tendency to dis- 
parage the Old Teftament, in writers of 
this day, who fpeak of it as fomething 
out of date, which has done its work, and 
is now no longer needed by the Church. 

The authors of thefe views allege that 
whatever relates to God and to moral 
duty, having been more completely fet 
forth in the New Teftament than in the 
Old, the latter has become, as a rule of 
faith and duty, fuperfluous. Nay, fo far 
have writers of this fchool gone, as to 
pronounce cc the expreffions of the nobler 
and purer heathenifm " equal to the pre- 
cepts of the Old Teftament. The true 
fecret of thefe opinions may lie in fome 



Old Teftament not out of Date. 93 

caufes which are kept fecret; in Tome 
motives which do not appear in the 
reafons offered by the authors of them. 
How far they are to be traced to the 
notion that the whole of the religion in- 
culcated in the Old Teftament is of a 
coarfer grain than that taught in the New, 
and that to make ufe of it now would 
be to place ourfelves " again in bondage 
to weak and beggarly elements," or to a 
diflike of fome of the Chriftian doctrines 
which acquire force from the fignificant 
fervices of the Jewifh ritual, are points 
worthy of consideration. It is, however, 
with the fact that we are mainly con- 
cerned : that is undeniable, and is to be 
regarded as one of the worft fruits of 
modern German criticifm. 

If we may rapidly glance at the evi- 
dence furnifhed by the New Teftament 
to the perpetual authority of the Old, we 
cannot but refer, firft, to the repeated 
fanction given by the Lord Jesus to the 



94 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

ancient records, alike in His injunction 
to " fearch " them as f teftifying of Him- 
felf,' and in the many citations of them 
in relation to His work. Next, to the 
affertion made by no lefs than a Meffen- 
ger from heaven, and which, though in 
its ftri<5t terms it might feem to be limited 
to the predictive portion of the Old 
Teftament, to the c Prophets,' properly fo 
called, muft be regarded as really taking 
in the whole of the Old Teftament re- 
velation; predictive intimations of the 
Christ to come being, as we know, 
found in its very earlieft portions ; " I 
am thy fellow-fervant, and of thy bre- 
thren that have the teftimony of Jesus; 
for the teftimony of Jesus is the fpirit of 
prophecy." 1 Of which paffage it is to be 
noted that it is an inftance of the tranf- 
pofition of the terms of a proportion, 
the predicate being here placed before the 

1 Revel, xix. 10. 



Old ¥ eft ament not out of Date. 95 

fubjecl: ; a circumftance, however, which 
does not alter the real relations of the 
fentence. On this principle, the proper 
logical form of the pafTage is, c The fpirit 
of prophecy is the teftimony of Jesus ;' 
that is, the characteriftic fenfe of prophecy 
is the witnefs which it bears to Jesus. 

It were endlefs to multiply proofs 
from the New Teftament, of the point 
before us. They are fo interwoven with 
its whole texture, that if it mould be 
attempted to diffever and draw them 
away from the reft, the diflblution of the 
Record itfelf would be the confequence. 
The directly Chriftian character of the 
writings of the Old Teftament, and, there- 
fore, their perpetual ufe and authority, is 
taught in thofe words of St. Paul to 
Timothy, in which he reminds him of 
the privilege he had from his earlieft 
days enjoyed, in having iC known the 
Holy Scriptures, which," he fays, c< are 
able to make thee wife unto falvation, 



96 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

through faith which is in Christ Jesus." 1 
For, the juft interpretation of thefe latter 
words would feem to be, not that an 
acquaintance with the ancient Scriptures, 
Jupplemented by a belief in Christ, would 
favingly enlighten him, but that this 
blefled effect was to be looked for in the 
ufe of them, through belief in Christ, to 
whom " give all the Prophets witnefs." 

Forbearing to add here any other 
confiderations which, were they needed, 
crowd upon us from the pages of the 
New Teftament, it may be afked whether 
it can be imagined, if our Lord enjoined 
the Jews to " fearch the Scriptures" of 
the Old Teftament, becauje they teftified 
of Him, that it mould have been His 
defign that fuch a permanent 'witnefs' to 
Him as Cf The Christ, the Son of the 
living God," mould be, at any period, 
withdrawn from His Church ? The Old 

1 2 Tim. iii. 15. 



Old Teftament not out of Date. 97 

Teftament rauft be regarded, not in the 
light of a fcaffolding to a building now 
complete, but rather as an integral and 
enduring portion of the edifice itfelf: 
* enduring ' (and this conftitutes another 
independent argument for the authority 
of the Old Scriptures), becaufe containing 
predictions of events yet to be accom- 
plifhed, notices of certain deftinies of the 
Chriftian Church which have yet to be 
fulfilled ; fo that thofe writers who argue 
as though the Old Teftament had done 
its work, and mould now gracefully retire 
from the fcene, proceed upon a falfe af- 
fumption. The Old Teftament was, in- 
deed, the meffenger which God the Father 
c fent before the face' of His Son Jesus, 
to f prepare His way before Him :' but, 
unlike the perfonal forerunner of the 
Lord, the Hallowed Volume of the Old 
Covenant was not to " decreafe." cc x The 

1 Acts iii. 21. 
H 



98 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

heavens muft receive " Jesus Christ 
fC until the times of reftitution of all 
things, which God hath fpoken by the 
mouth of all his holy prophets fince the 
world began," are words which declare 
that there are hidden in futurity (how 
remote none can fay), events great and 
organic, in which, when they come to 
pafs, the Church will recognize what God 
had fo c fpoken.' If fo, then muft the 
Church be looking out for the fulfilment 
of thefe promifes, with the Volume which 
contains the cc holy prophets," ever open 
in her hand. 

The difpofition to lower the Old Tefta- 
ment has manifefted itfelf in other forms 
befide that which has been dwelt on. Of 
thefe only one can be now mentioned. 
A diftinclion has been drawn between the 
c interpretation,' and the f application,' of 
Scripture; the former word referring to 
its s original meaning,' the latter to the 
fenfe which certain paffages are made 



Old Tefiament not out of Date. 99 

to bear, by thofe who have employed 
them. 

Now, if the cautions againft mifinter- 
pretation had been confined to thofe 
writers, in our own time, who f adapt to ' 
their own c purpofe ' the words of a Pro- 
phet or Evangelift, they might be regarded 
as wholefome and, perhaps, necefTary ; for 
there is a danger of inverting with Scrip- 
tural fanction thofe fentiments which are 
put forth in Scriptural language. A 
fpurious authority may thus be gained 
for party or private opinions upon any 
fubject. 

But, it feems to have been more than 
hinted by fome writers, that even Scrip- 
ture it/elf may mif apply Scripture : nay, 
that fuch mifapplication is, in fact, found 
in one place where an Evangelift declares 
that the words of a Prophet had been 
" fulfilled " in a recorded event in the in- 
fancy of Jesus. 

The real queftion which is raifed by 



ioo Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures . 

the expreffion of fuch opinions is very 
momentous. It is this. Are we to un- 
derftand that the ufe made of the Old 
Teftament in the New is a mere arbitrary 
and ingenious ufe ? Or, that it is the 
fenfe fuggefted and authorized by that 
f f one Spirit " which dwelt in the writers 
of both ? 

We cannot conceal from ourfelves that 
fuch a mode of arguing as that contained 
in the criticifm referred to, involves a 
denial of ' infpiration proper ' as attaching 
to the Evangelifts ; for it reprefents them 
as imaginative, fallible, and actually mif- 
taken. Equally plain is it, (did this 
occur to the author of the criticifm now 
under review ? ) that if, in one parTage, the 
words of a Prophet fo prefaced, may be 
regarded as employed in a ' conventional ' 
fenfe, fo may they in every other : and 
that if nothing more than a c coincidence ' 
could have been c intended,' the phrafe 
employed is moft inappropriate, fince the 



Old Tejlament not out of Date. 101 

words, " That it might be fulfilled," 
whether we take them to exprefs a caufe, 
or a confequence, declare unequivocally 
that the paffage cited from the Old Tefta- 
ment received its full accomplijhment in 
the fact then being recorded. 

The fame critics who maintain that 
" the apprehenfion of the original meaning 
of Scripture is inconfiftent with the re- 
ception of a typical or conventional one," 
involving (as has been mown), in the 
charge of fuch inconfiftency, the Sacred 
Historians themfelves, predict the arrival 
of a £c time when educated men will be " 
unable f to believe that' certain 'words' 
which the Evangelift fpeaks of as <f ful- 
filled" were "intended" by the Prophet 
to refer to the fact in connection with 
which they are cited. But, the race 
of new interpreters whofe rife is thus 
predicted, can fcarcely furpafs in erudi- 
tion, or power of thought, thofe men 
who in paft generations, and in our own, 



i o 2 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

have held, concerning the Old Teftament, 
the belief, that it contains many pafTages 
which had indeed a pofitive application to 
perfons or events of the time when they 
were firft uttered, but of which the deeper 
import was to be understood when brought 
out in the hiftory of the Gofpel Church. 




CHAPTER V. 



The Scripture ajjerts its own 
Infpiration. 

PROPOSITION which 
may furprife many is, that 
the main argument for the 
fupport of Infpiration is to 
be fought from the Scriptures themfelves. 
fC Thou beareft record of Thyfelf ; Thy 
record is not true," 1 objected the Jews to 
our Lord, whofe reply is memorable : 
" Though I bear record of Myfelf, My 
record is true." So, and fimilarly, al- 




1 John viii. 13, 14. 



1 04 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures, 

though we claim for the Scriptures the 
right to be heard on behalf of their own 
divinity, we make no unreafonable de- 
mand. It is to be borne in mind that 
we do not, firft, merely hear the voice of 
Scripture proclaiming its own infpiration, 
and then call upon all men to fubmit to 
its authority without any further inquiry 
into its pretenfions. We do not fay, The 
Bible declares that it is a communication 
from Heaven, and that the authors of its 
feveral Books are cc all " immediately 
<f taught of God," fo that we have now 
only to receive its doctrines as fuper- 
natural revelations, and its hiftories as un- 
queftionable facts. No fuch violence as 
this is attempted to be done againft the 
freedom of our faculties. We afliire 
ourfelves, on independent grounds, that 
the Books are truftworthy : and, then, in 
the fecond place, we permit the writers 
to fpeak of themfelves. The nrft rank 
as evidence, is conceded to thofe argu- 



AJferted by tbemf elves. 105 

ments by which the Books that are called 
Holy Scripture are mown to be divine, 
from considerations external to themfelves, 
thofe which eftablifh their genuinenefs and 
authenticity. Thefe arguments having 
been heard, and their force admitted, we 
may fairly and legitimately turn to the 
record, and afk, cc What fayeft thou of 
thyfelf?" In fuch a procedure we are 
not chargeable with the error of c begging 
the queftion ; ' for, the queftion of the 
divine authority of the Scripture has been 
eftablifhed upon, we do not fay higher 
but, other and independent grounds : we 
act modeftly, therefore, when we afk that 
Scripture mall be heard, in the fecond 
rank only, afTerting its own divinity. It 
was after He had wrought miracles, and 
Cf done many wonderful works," that our 
Lord was heard claiming to be acknow- 
ledged as having c come forth from the 
Father/ and as being f one ' with the 
f Father.' Even fo, the proofs that the 



1 06 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

Books of the Bible were compofed by 
their profeffed authors, and that their 
contents may be relied upon as true, thefe 
are, firft, prefented as the bafis of the pre- 
tentions of the Scriptures ; and, cc when 
men have well drunk " at thefe fprings of 
conviction, cc then " is introduced not 
cc that which is worfe," (on the contrary, 
it is moft refrefhing and ftrengthening), 
but that which might feem gracefully and 
becomingly, as well as according to philo- 
fophical order, to occupy the fecond place, 
namely, the witnefs of Scripture itfelf to 
its own infpiration. 

Various and multiplied are the forms 
in which that felf-atteftation is found: 
none more clear and exprefs than thofe 
words of the Lord Jesus, cc Search the 
Scriptures, for in them ye your/elves hold, 
that ye have eternal life, and they are they 
which teftify of Me." 1 

1 John v. 39. 



St. Paul does not hejitate. 107 

But what, if in the Scriptures them- 
felves fhall be found an admiffion that 
not every thing they contain is to be re- 
garded as infpired ; what fhall we then 
fay ? Now, it is by no means to be con- 
cluded that an objection of this fort muft 
neceffarily proceed from a fceptical mind. 
Candid and reverential readers have 
thought that they have found reafon to 
adopt views confiderably different from 
what were their former opinions upon the 
fubject of Infpiration, and from the cur- 
rent belief; and this, from the language 
of Scripture itfelf. They imagine they 
find authority for this change, or diffent, 
in the Apoftle Paul's instructions to the 
Corinthian Church on the fubject of mar- 
riage. 1 A clofer examination, however, 
of this portion of Scripture than it has 
received at the hands of many expofitors, 
and of fome, it may be, even of thofe 

1 1 Cor. vii. 



i o 8 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

whofe views of infpiration have become 
relaxed through the ftudy of this paffage 
in our Englifh verfion only, may ifTue 
in the conviction that it not only lends 
no countenance to the opinion that the 
Apoftle here admits that he does not 
fpeak with authority, as one fuper- 
naturally guided, on the point before 
him, but that it upholds that authority, 
and exhibits the Apoftle as avowing his 
confident belief that the counfel he offered 
to the Corinthian Church in their prefent 
difficulty was fuggefted by the Spirit of 
God. 

The Apoftle, in the place referred to, 
is drawing a diftinction, not between his 
own private opinion upon the matter in 
queftion, and what were his infpired 
teachings upon other points, whether of 
doctrine or action ; but between his own 
injunctions as an infpired Apoftle, and 
the command originally given, and which 
they to whom he wrote well knew to 



St. Paid does not hefitate. 109 

have been fC given by the Lord." It 
was an <c old commandment" that he 
would prefs upon them, not a " new com- 
mandment," now, for the firft time, iffuing 
from himfelf. fC I fpeak this by permif- 
fion, and not by way of commandment," 
is a tranflation of the words which it 
would perhaps be prefumptuous to pro- 
nounce wrong : on the contrary, here, as 
in not a few other places of the New 
Teftament, we may perceive that the 
tranflators rightly apprehended the {tn{e 
of the original, and expreffed in forms of 
words characteriftic of the ufe of the 
Englifh language at that day, jufl what 
we regard to be the true fenfe of the 
pafTage. The Apoftle does not fay that 
he has been permitted but not com- 
manded by the Holy Ghost, to give 
this advice ; but that this was fpoken 
{ by way of concejjion ' ' (to them in their 

1 V. 6. "The prepofition xara points out, equally 



1 1 o Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

peculiar trials) and not c by way of in- 
junction.' 

But the difficulty feems to rife up 
with greater force in fome fubfequent 
places of the chapter. How are we to 
explain what is found in the tenth, 
twelfth, and twenty-fourth verfes, to fay 
nothing of the laft words of the fortieth ? 
Does not the Apoftle, in the two former 
places, explicitly diftinguifh between f in- 
fpired ' and c uninfpired,' in thofe verfes, 
refpeclively : and tell us, in the one in- 

in both cafes, the origin or author of the communica- 
tions of which he fpeaks. The directions which he 
had jult given, did not originate with himfelf. What 
he wrote was the refult of a conceffion directly made 
to him? by the Holy Spirit." — Divine Infpiration. 
E. Henderson, D.D. ; Land. 1847, pp. 280, 281. 
In the above paffage (from a valuable Treatife), 
one particular is mif-ftated. The ' conceffion ' was 
not ' made ' to the Apoftle : it was made to the 
Corinthian Chriftians under their peculiar circum- 
ftances ; and revealed to the Apoftle, who authori- 
tatively communicated it to them. Perhaps the 
Writer meant this. 



St. Paul does not helitate. 1 1 1 



fiance, that the Spirit fpake by him, in 
the other not ? The reply is, that it is 
altogether a gratuitous arTumption to 
make the Apoftle refer to the Holy 
Spirit /peaking in him. Let thofe who 
would rightly apprehend St. Paul's mean- 
ing go a little lower, to the twenty-fifth 
verfe, where he fays, cc I have no com- 
mandment of the Lord ; " words in which 
he is not heard to fay that he is without 
any fpecial direction, any inward guidance 
from Christ's Spirit, to give rules for 
the guidance of the Church, but that 
there is no definite commandment ever 
uttered by the Lord Jesus, to which he 
can refer the Corinthians as an authority 
upon the matter in queftion, juft as he 
could not point them to any fuch as ap- 
plicable to the other cafes. The " not I, 
but the Lord," of the tenth verfe might 
therefore be thus paraphrafed : f I do not 
offer, even as an infpired Apoftle, my 
advice : your conduct in this cafe is de- 



112 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

termined by a higher authority, by the 
recorded words of the Lord Jesus, which 
he fpake in the days of his miniftry.' 

But there is found, in the opinion of 
fome perfons, a ftrong argument againft 
the Apoftle's infallibility, in the laft words 
of this chapter, in which he winds up his 
advice upon the queftion fubmitted to 
him. To the declaration of his "judg- 
ment," he adds, " And I think alfo that 
I have the Spirit of God." So it is in 
our verfion : nor is the tranflation of the 
original words to be impugned, or to be 
thought of as inadequately reprefenting 
the fenfe. Here, as in fome other places 
where the rendering of the Greek might 
appear fomewhat weak, or even erroneous, 
it will f be found upon further considera- 
tion ' that the tranflators employed the 
word or phrafe in queftion, in the fenfe 
which criticifm would affix to the original 
expreffion, and that their Englifhing of it 
fully meafures that fenfe according to the 



Sf. Paul does not hejitate. 1 1 3 

import, in their day, of the words they 
felected, though the ufe of the words, in 
our time, be flightly different. For this, 
however, we appeal confidently to all who 
have the opportunity of examining the 
point, that the word employed by the 
Apoftle, and on which objectors fix, is fo 
far from conveying the notion of hefita- 
tion, or of a mere f opinion,' that it is a 
firm ajjertion that he was divinely guided. 
1 Now, I hold 1 that I, too, have the Spirit 



1 A careful examination, in the Original, of the 
following pafTages, by creating an afTurance that the 
very oppojite of a mere opinion is defigned in the ufe, 
by the facred writers, of the verb Zoku>, (to 'bold 
as a fettled view ' of any fubjedl:), will fortify the 
mind againft this dangerous fuggeftion of the enemies 
of Infpiration. John v. 39, vf^sig doiceire : ' Your- 
J elves bold,' &c. Matth. vi. 7. 'They hold' (as a 
doctrine), &c. Luke xvii. 9. ' No, I hold,' 1 Cor. 
viii. 2 ; iii. 18; 'If any one maintains that he is 
wife.' So xiv. 37. and Philipp. iii. 4. Matth. iii. 9. 
xvii. 25. xxi. 28. xxii. 27. Luke xiii. 2. x. 36. 
xvi. 2. 1 Cor. iv. 9. x. 12. xii. 23. 2 Cor. xi. 16. 
I 



114 Infpiration oSthe Holy Scriptures. 

of God,' may be regarded as adequately 
exhibiting the Apoftle's meaning ; which 
words he is to be underftood as adding to 
all that he had written, for the very pur- 
pofe of giving weight to the immediately 
preceding words, " after my judgment ;" 
and of obviating the fuppoiition that, in 
the ufe of that phrafe, he meant to claim 
no more authority for the advice he had 
juft offered, than fuch as would attach to 
a private opinion. That he did demand 
more is evident from the words them- 
felves, which import much more than the 
modern colloquial form, c as /think;' 
or, f according to my view.' For, the 
Englifh word " after," as here employed, 
and agreeably to the principle above laid 
down, has an emphatic fenfe. It does 
not mean, c if any one is willing to take,' 
but, c according to,' c in purfuance of,' 



Galat. ii. z. iiocovo-i : £ perfons thought much of \ 
6 held in eftimation ;' ii. 9. Heb. xii. 1 1. 



St. Paul does not hefitate. 115 

c following,' and, in this fenfe, c after' 
c She is happy if me fo abide,' following 
therein, (not c my opinion ; ' that is not 
the proper meaning of the term employed, 
but,) my infpired decifion ; my grave and 
deliberate judgment as an Apoftle of 
Christ, upon the point in queftion ; c a 
judgment which' (he had already faid, 
v. 25,) ' I ' confidently f give, not as a 
private opinion, but as the authoritative 
counfel of one who has been fo gracioufly 
dealt with by the Lord, as to be put 
into the Apoftlefhip, and who thus claims 
to be relied upon in giving a judgment.' 
1 Now, / hold that I, too, as an Apoftle 1 
of Christ, as one of that number to 



1 One of the moft fatisfying evidences of the 
Divine Authority of the contents of the ' Epiftles,' 
is the word which meets us in the very outfet. 
"Paul, an Apoftle;'''' Peter, an Apoftle of Jesus 
Christ." The full credentials of infpiration are 
here. On whom did the Lord promife to confer 
the "Spirit of Truth?" Was it not upon the 



1 1 6 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

whom the Lord exprefsly promifed the 
f Paracletos ' to f guide ' them c into all 
truth ; though I have diftinguifhed be- 
tween the original precepts given by the 
Lord Himfelf, and my own decifions ; 
I hold that I, too, poffefs the Spirit of 
God, and am infallibly guided by that 
Spirit whenever, as now, I write to a 
Church upon points of faith, or duty, or 
order.' 

It has been thought important to at- 
tempt to place this PafTage in a right 
light, inafmuch as both by believers in, 
arid opponents of, Scriptural Infpiration, 

Apoftles ? and, for their work ? The fubjeft matter 
of thefe Epiftles was chief among the " many things" 
which He had to "fay unto" them. Therefore 
the Church, in thefe Apoftolic Letters, poffeffes the 
promifed fupplement to the Lord's perfonal miniftry. 
It is a neceffary conclufion, from the words " an 
Apoftle of Jesus Christ" being found prefixed to 
the feveral i Epiftles,' that the document, in each 
inftance, at the head of which they ftand, is Christ's 
own meffage to the Church addreffed. 



St. Paul does not he/It ate, 117 

by the reverent and the irreverent alike, 
it is quoted as bearing unfavourably upon 
that doctrine, againft which it prefents to 
the former clafs, a real difficulty, and fur- 
nifhes to the latter, a plaufible objection. 
To have entered thus particularly into 
the phrafeology which runs through this 
argument will not be deemed fuperfluous 
by thofe who are aware how continually 
and confidently the Apoftle's language, in 
this place, is referred to as not merely 
giving 1 fupport to the opinions of thofe 
who are in favour of a relaxed view of 
infpiration, but as if it contained a direct 
warning from himfelf, not to look for 
Divine authority in all that he delivered. 
If the remarks upon his words that have 
now been offered are juft, they eftablifh 
this conclufion, that fo far from relinquifh- 



1 " It furnifhes the ordinary burden of all popular 
reafoning againft any ftrifl view of Infpiration." — 
Prof. Lee's Leftures, p. 291. 



1 1 8 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

ing his claim to be heard as an infpired 
arbiter in the queftions he difcuffes, he 
afferts fuch claim in the moft decisive 
manner. 

And, here, it may not be out of place 
to advert to a modern ufe of the term 
1 criticifm,' which feems quite inadmiffible; 
beneath which, however, fome very dan- 
gerous fpeculations have been introduced, 
and have fought a fhield. None will dis- 
pute that f criticifm ' (as the word has 
ever, until recently, been underftood), is 
the art of determining the merits of lite- 
rary compositions : the c critic ' is the 
perfon who proferTes to judge of thofe 
pretentions ; the 'critique' is the effay 
which embodies the judgment. But 
( criticifm,' as fuch, and properly, has 
nothing to do with truth and falfehood. 
He who criticifes a compofition in verfe, 
refers to fome high ftandard of poetry ; 
he who examines the merits of fome 
popular harangue, tries it by the laws of 



Criticifm a perverted term. 1 1 9 

oratory ; fuch reference to ftandards im- 
plying an admiffion of the reality of the 
fubjects therafelves. The critic remarks 
upon fome particular performance, and 
points out what he deems to be its beau- 
ties and its faults ; but his comments are 
confined to the ftyle and the ftructure, 
at any rate to the circumftances of the 
composition, and have properly nothing 
to do with the fubjed matter : to examine 
that belongs wholly to another inquiry. 
But in our day, and very recently, we 
have had cf free," nay, the very freeft 
fC handling " of the matter of Holy Scrip- 
ture, brought before us under the fpecious 
title of c criticifm.' The facts upon which 
the very being of Scripture, as God's 
Truth, depends, are bidden to difappear 
from the platform of Faith, upon the plea 
that they cannot abide the canons of a 
fifting ( criticifm.' Let the contents of 
the « Holy Bible " be fubjected to the 
moft fearching examination that folid 



: o Infpiration of the Holy Script 



ures. 



learning can apply ; but let not the engine 
which is really defigned for the deftruc- 
tion of the City of God be brought within 
its walls under cover of a plaufible title 
that mall lull fufpicion, and its falfity be 
undifcovered, until the moft ferious mif- 
chief has been wrought. No attainment 
is more to be coveted, no habit more to 
be cultivated, than of employing, upon 
every fubjecl:, fuch language as exactly 
meafures the occafion, fo that we mail not 
fay too little, or too much ; not felecl 
terms too ftrong, or too weak ; above all, 
not mifreprefent the true nature of the 
matter on which we fpeak or write. It 
is, indeed, difficult to conceive how writers 
pofTefTed of fo much keennefs, and who, 
in the general ftructure of their Works, 
are chara&erifed by lingular precifion in 
the ufe of terms, and feem to have weighed 
their words with the utmoft nicety, and 
to have employed them with an aptnefs 
that agrees with what was to have been 



Criticifm a perverted term. 1 2 1 

anticipated from men of high education, 
and habits of rigid thought ; it is not 
eafy to underfland how fuch writers mould 
have gone fo far away from the fair, the 
accepted fenfe of any term, as to ufe the 
word £ criticifm,' as they have throughout, 
to defignate what is really, and what per- 
fons of their fhrewdnefs could not but 
have been confcious, was, a deftructive 
procefs againft the fundamental truths of 
Holy Scripture, as they have ever been 
held and received. 

This recent and unlawful application 
of the term in queftion would feem to 
have crept in through the French. For 
inftance ; there is a Work by an author 
who ranks under fC The Modern School 
of Free Thought in the Proteftant Church 
of France," in which are given his pecu- 
liar views on Infpiration, the Bible, and 
Sin, the title of which indicates the na- 
ture of the contents, according to the ufe 
of the word f critique,' in the original 



1 2 2 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

French ; whereas the fame word adopted 
into our Englifh vocabulary, has always 
been reftricted to mean, either a philo- 
logical inquiry into the meaning of par- 
ticular words and phrafes ; or, an examina- 
tion, generally, into the merits of any 
work as a literary composition. It rauft 
be regarded, therefore, as a dangerous 
innovation, to ufe this word freely and 
repeatedly, when by it nothing lefs is 
meant than to raife, in the nineteenth 
century, the question of the truth or false- 
hood (with a plain inclination to a verdidt 
in favour of the latter view,) of thofe 
things which for nearly two thoufand 
years cc have been moil furely believed 
among us." 

If the f criticifm ' from which fuch im- 
portant confequences to the juft inter- 
pretation of Scripture ' are predicted, were 
foundly applied to the paffages which 
feem to be in the view of thofe writers 
who fay that the Apoftle Cf hefitated in 



Criticifm a perverted term. 123 

difficult cafes, and more than once cor- 
rected himfelf ;" or who,, otherwife, make 
him to have renounced his title to be re- 
garded as infpired, it would, we think, 
conduct them to a different conclufion. 
They would difcover, that in the word, 
or words, upon the Englifh rendering of 
which they found their triumphant f dic- 
tum,' that St. Paul confefTed his own 
fallibility, is contained, not a faint opinion, 
but on the contrary, a firm afTertion of his 
being infpired ; and fo, that their anxiety 
to relieve the Apoftle of the burden of 
" honours thruft upon " him, by pious 
but weak interpreters of his writings, is 
fuperfluous and mifplaced. 







CHAPTER VI. 



The term "Scripture" is of 

Divine Origin and 

Appointment. 

T is a point which demands 
to be borne in mind, as 
furnifhing direct evidence 
of the divine infallibility of 
the Sacred Records, that the term by 
which they are generally known is, itfelf, 
infpired. 

Collectively regarded, the Volume is 
called "The Bible:" when its feveral 
parts, as well as the fum of them, is what 
is to be defcribed, the term employed is 




Scripture, an infpired term. 1 2 5 

" The Holy Scriptures." Now, this 
latter expreffion is neither a mere Englifh 
phrafe, by which we of this nation rever- 
entially defignate the writings of fC holy 
men of God, who fpake as they were 
moved by the Holy Ghost ;" nor is it 
merely a very ancient expreffion which 
has come down to us from the times of 
the Apoftles, and which might naturally 
have originated with the Chriftians of the 
firft century feeking an appropriate term 
for the completed Canon. It is far more 
than this. It is expreflly of divine origin ; 
and as fuch, invites our efpecial attention 
to its import. The chofen term of the 
Holy Ghost pofTefTes a high degree of 
intereft and importance. Now, the phrafe 
conducts us at once to that which the 
Bible efTentially is. ' Scripture ' is the 
writing-down of that which had a pre- 
vious exiftence, and was to have a per- 
manent ufe. Both thefe elements enter 
into the idea of ' Scripture.' A revela- 



1 2 6 Infp iration of the Holy Scriptures . 

tion had been given, or actions had been 
done; otherwife there were nothing to 
place upon record : the revelation and the 
deeds were of lafting ufe ; otherwife to re- 
cord them would have been fuperfluous. 

There is found, in the Book of the 
Prophet 1 Daniel, a paffage which illus- 
trates and confirms this view. The angel 
who inftructs him, when referring to cer- 
tain predictions as being contained in the 
books he was enabled to cc underftand," 
fpeaks thus : " I will mew thee what is 
noted in the Scripture of Truth :" remark- 
able words, firft, as being found in the 
Old Teftament ; and then, as defcribing a 
written Prophecy ; in which point of 
view they would feem equally to charac- 
terize the predictions of the other pro- 
phets. If we place by the fide of thefe 
words of the divine meffenger who fpake 
to Daniel, the firft words of the Apoca- 
lypfe, light will be thrown upon the na- 



Scripture, an infpired term. i 27 

ture of the prophetic writings. St. John 
declares that he wrote the ' "record" of 
2 "the revelation of Jesus Christ which 
God gave unto him." In each inftance a 
c miniftering fpirit ' is the medium of the 
fupernatural communication ; in each the 
receiver of it writes down what he has 
received ; St. John informing us that it 
was in confequence of repeated inftruc- 
tions he did fo, and that the angel pro- 
nounced, of the entire Record, " Thefe 
are the true fayings of God." 

We infer from thefe two parallel cafes, 
that a f commiffion to write,' given to 
men whether of the Old Teftament day, 
or of the New, implied a revelation : in 
other words, it was juft becaufe fuperna- 
tural truth had been conveyed to their 
minds, that they were to put it into 
writing, it being 3 "revealed" unto them, 
" that not unto themfelves, but unto us," 
to the Church then and onwards, they 

1 Rev. i. 1, 2. 2 Rev. xix. 9. 3 1 Pet. i. 12. 






128 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures . 

did minifter the things miraculoufly made 
known to them. 

The conclufion in which we reft is 
fimply this ; that the word c Scripture,' 
as found in the Bible, is a fignificant 
term, neceffarily implying either a revela- 
tion of new truth, or an impulfe to place 
upon record deeds and words, and therein 
afferting the infpiration of the Record itfelf. 

In which conclufion we are confirmed, 
when paffing on to the New Tefta- 
ment, we find the fame word f Scrip- 
ture' continually made ufe of by the 
feveral writers of the hiftorical parts, and 
by Christ Himfelf, with the addition, 
in the Epiftles, of the remarkable word 
£ holy,' as a prefix ; a word which imports 
much more than the reverend eftimation 
in which the ancient Scriptures were held, 
much more than the expreffion £ hal- 
lowed,' (alfo found) ; and denoting their 
character as dictated by the Holy Spirit, 
with the authority refulting therefrom. 



Authority of Canon, Internal. 129 

This word authority, with the ufe of 
which, in its connection with the Holy 
Scriptures, we are fo familiar, requires 
explanation. For, although not in itfelf 
difficult when properly understood, fome 
degree of confufion may attend it to 
minds not accustomed to look into the 
Ariel: fignification of words ; in which 
fenfe, of courfe, they are proferTedly em- 
ployed by writers on theological fub- 
jects. 

In the popular, or at leaft very fre- 
quent ufe of the word, it conveys the 
notion of a demand of obedience. Thus, a 
father is faid to poffefs a natural < autho- 
rity ' over his fon ; a matter exercifes the 
like over his fervant ; and, generally, 
thofe who are lawful governors, over the 
governed. Of each of thefe, as being 
under conftitutional rule, an unquestion- 
ing fubmiffion is demanded. 

But it is not exactly in this fenfe that 
the word c authority ' is ufed, in its rela- 

K 



i 30 Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

tion to the Holy Scriptures. They do, 
indeed, demand to be cordially accepted, 
and to hold the place of the rule of faith 
and manners to the Church ; but this is 
becaufe they commend themfelves to fuch 
acceptance by the moft powerful con- 
federations. Now, the grounds upon 
which we of this day receive the Scrip- 
tures, and hold ourfelves fC bound to 
believe and to do all " that they teach, 
are precifely the fame as thofe which 
made them fuch a law to the early 
Christian Church ; and it is, we conceive, 
a great error to imagine that we take the 
Scriptures as our rule, merely becaufe 
we are historically afTured that the firfl: 
Chriftians found fatisfadlory reafons for 
accepting them as their rule. The 
Church, in the centuries that fucceeded 
the firfl:, down to this hour, and hence- 
forward as long as its earthly exiftence 
mail endure, accepts the Bible as its law, 
becaufe the reafons which fatisfied the 



Authority of Canon, Internal, i 3 1 

early Chriftians have convinced, and (it 
may be prefumed), fhall ever convince 
the judgments of each fucceffive genera- 
tion of Chriftians. 

What, then, were the considerations 
that prevailed with the early Church to 
receive the Scriptures ? There can be no 
doubt that it was the internal evidence 
that wrought moft powerfully upon the 
primitive believers. They were not care- 
lefs, or credulous, as refpects the teftimony 
from without. Certain books were, from 
the very beginning, and by general con- 
fent, received among them. 1 A11 the 
congregations, or churches, recognized 
thefe as divinely given for the ufe of all, 
and as free from error of any kind, while 
over fome other writings, for a fpace of 

1 " Communi femper conferfu ab omnibus Chrif- 
tianis fuerunt fufcepta, et pro canonicis, hoc eft, 
Divinis, indubiis, et ad ufum univerfalem Ecclefiarum 
deftinatis, nee non omnis erroris in fide et quoad 
mores expertibus agnita et ufurpata." — Weismann. 
(v. inf. p. 134.) 






132 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

time, hung a degree of doubt ; not, 
however, becaufe they were miftrufted as 
divine, but only becaufe their authorfhip 
was not clearly made out. It appears 
that they were, neverthelefs, read in very 
many of the churches, and admitted by 
nearly all, though not as yet formally 
fanclioned. This heiitation refpecling 
fome, while others were undoubtingly 
accepted, is a proof that the Canon of 
Scripture which has come down to us, 
was not formed by an eafy acquiefcence 
on the part of thofe who compofed the 
early Church ; and fhuts out the fufpicion 
that thofe Christians who fixed the faith 
of Chrift's Church, by fixing its records, 
were pious, perhaps, but fuperftitious, or 
eafily fatisfied. J It mews, inconteftably, 
that they "earnestly" rifted the preten- 

1 "All canonical Scripture is infpired ; and be- 
caufe infpired, therefore canonical." — " Teftimonies 
to the Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures" By Rev. A. 
M'Caul, D.D., p. 44, Lond. 1862. 



Authority of Canon, Internal. 133 

fions of that which afked to be a part of 
the faith that mould be cc delivered to the 
faints " of the " generations to come," 
while, by fuch cautioufnefs, they only 
ftamped with a deeper mark of certainty, 
all thofe books to which their approving 
feal ftands affixed. 

Neverthelefs, as has been already faid, 
the main reliance of thofe Chriftians 
refted upon the marks they found within 
the writings, of their contents having 
< come forth from God.' Far from over- 
looking the outer, they yet looked to the 
inner evidence as their firm footing. 

The language of the cc Gallican and 
Weftminfter Confeffions" of the fix- 
teenth and feventeenth centuries, (periods 
removed by fo vaft an interval from 
the time of the Apoftles,) in declaring 
the chief grounds on which the Scrip- 
tures were received as divine by the 
Churches which thofe Confeffions repre- 
fented, equally expreffies the warrant of 



134 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

the Church of this century, and of this 
Nation, for accepting them. In perfect 
harmony with the fentiments of thefe 
4 Confeffions,' is the language of a valu- 
able x Church Hiftorian, who, when giving 
an account of the Canon, and of the care 
fhewn by the Chriftians of the fecond 
century in refpect of the Holy Scriptures, 
has this remark, the title of the feclion 
being " The Internal Unchangeable Au- 
thority of the Scriptures." fC Thefe 
writings of the Apoftles, which previoufly 
pojfejfed, from God Him/elf, and His Spirit, 

1 " Autoritas interna immutabilis." " Scripta haec 
Apoftolica, quae jam a?itea a Deo ipfo et Spiritu 
illius canonicam obtinuerunt autoritatem, hoc quoque 
confilio et inftituto tradita flint fidelibus, ut agno- 
fcerentur tanquam ypatpa) SeSrfvsvotoi, legerentur ad 
publicam privatamque inftitutionem, atque autori- 
tatem in tota Ecclefia Novi Teftamenti haberent 
perpetuam atque univerfalem, cujus fidei et obfequio 
nemo fe pofTet fubducere." — Weismann's " Intro- 
duclio in Memorabilia Ecclejiajlica Hijioria Sacra 
Nov. Tejl." Halae. Magdeburg, 1745. (Seel, xxiii. 
" Hiftoria Canonis Scripture.") 



Authority of Canon, Internal, i 3 5 

a canonical claim to be admitted into the 
Church, were delivered to believers, with 
this view, and for this purpofe, that 
they might be acknowledged as Scriptures 
given by infpiration of God, be read for 
public and private instruction, and hold, 
throughout the Church of the New Tefta- 
ment, an authority which mould be per- 
petual and univerfal, from a belief and 
fubmiffion whereto none might with- 
draw." Here, then, is the affertion of the 
original ground on which refted the claim 
of the Books of the New Teftament to 
become the rule of faith to the Church : 
they approved themfelves to the enlight- 
ened perception of the Chriftians of that 
day (many of whom, it is to be borne in 
mind, had the beft means of knowing 
what it was the Apoftles had perfonally 
taught), as being divine. Thofe Chrif- 
tians could fay, in the words of the 
Samaritans, x " Now we believe, not 

1 John iv. 42. 



136 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

becaufe of thy faying ; for we have 
heard Him ourfelves, and know that 
this is indeed the Chrift, the Saviour 
of the world :" and we, their fuccefTors, 
to whom has defcended the f depohV of 
the Sacred Books, can adopt the fame 
words, as furnifhing our anfwer to any 
that would inquire of us why we receive 
thofe Books. It is a matter of hiftory, open 
to all, and unqueftionable, that at that 
time, the Scriptures were received upon 
the inward evidence of having been dic- 
tated by the Holy Spirit. Cf So plain 
is this even from the Sacred Writings 
themfelves," adds the hiftorian above 
quoted, 1 " and fo univerfally admitted by 



1 In another paffage, the title of which is, " There 
was never any need of a formal Ordinance to prove 
this authority:" — " Tam aperta hsec flint ex ipfis 
quoque Uteris facris, et ab omnibus fiatim agnita 
fidelibus, ut nulla fynodo, nullis certaminibus aut 
deliberationibus opus fuerit ad conftituendam legem 
de recipiendis Scripturis ; fed reipfa, uno Spiritu 



Authority of Canon, Internal. 137 

believers from the firft, that there was no 
need of any Synod, of any difputes or 
debates, in order to fet up a law con- 
cerning thofe writings which were to be 
received ; but by the real teaching of c One 
Spirit, and with the agreement on all 
hands of Christians continuing enlight- 
ened and true, thofe Scriptures were 
accepted as the ' oracles of God,' and fet 
forth as binding upon, and for the inftruc- 
tion of all. This kind of Church-tradition 
we hold as of the higheft value, although 
our belief, in religious matters, refts, 
direSlly and immediately, upon the truth 
and word, not of men, but of God 
Himfelf." 

<c There be men of cold and icy in- 

docente, confentientibus undequaque Chriftianis illu- 
minatis adhuc et veris, w$ Xoyia, Qsov fuerint re- 
cepta, et ad obligationem ac inftitutionem omnium 
propofita. Quod utique traditionis eccleiiafticce genus 
maximi seftimamus, etiam fi fides Divina non homi- 
num fed Dei ipfius fidei verboque direfte et proxime 
innitatur." — Weismann, eodem loco. 






1 3 8 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

telledl who muft have everything proved 
unto them." To minds of this order, 
evidence of the fort juft adduced will 
never be found fufficient ; it is moral and 
internal, while it is of the effence of the 
habit of fuch minds to ignore that de- 
fcription of proof. It is better, then, that 
we mould at once profefs our belief that 
the Divine Head of the Church, whilfl: 
providing that there mould be no lack of 
authority from without, willed and de- 
figned that the deepefr. and ftrongeft evi- 
dence mould be that which comes from 
within the Holy Books. This witnefs 
was to the men of the early Church, and 
is to thofe of the later, like the Spirit the 
Author of the records, cc a well of water 
fpringing up unto " their and our un- 
fpeakable, unchangeable conviction. The 
fingular veneration with which thofe 
Books were, at the beginning, regarded, 
and the recognition in them of a charac- 
ter diftinct from and above the writings 



Authority of Canon, Internal. 139 

of other <c faithful men," muft have been 
fo imprefled upon the firft Christians by 
the Spirit, and therefore by the will of 
God. Very memorable is the faying of 
Ignatius, in reply to thofe who ftrove 
about fome minute matters conne&ed 
with the mere words of Scripture ; and, 
as he well knew, not from love to the 
religion of Jesus Christ, but out of a 
fpirit of contention againft cc the truth 
of the Gofpel." "Jesus Christ is my 
f Archives;' our uncorrupt cabinet is His 
crofsj and His death, and His refurrec- 
tion, and the c faith which is by Him,' 
whereby I defire, through your prayer, 
to be juftified." 

If any one mould derive from thefe 
words the impreffion that their author 
undervalued the written record, or fup- 
pofe that it was all one to the firfl Chrif- 
tians whether they ufed pure or corrupted 
copies of the Scriptures, or that they 
1 Epift. ad Philad. 8 . 



140 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

were in any way carelefs about the pre- 
fervation of the text, fuch an interpreter 
would go far away from the mind of the 
writer of that fentiment. His words 
could never intimate that the Scripture, 
and Christ, and His Spirit, might be 
independent of each other. Rightly 
underftood, the words of Ignatius are 
very valuable ; they are the profeffion of 
one who lived in the very infancy of the 
Church, that its leading unqueftioned 
fadls, as the objective part, and a faith 
upon Christ wrought within the foul, 
(as it had been in St. Peter's, whofe very 
words, it is to be noted, that Father 
employs), as the fubjective part; that 
thefe were the ftaple, the permanent 
grounds of the truft of a Christian. Nor 
is it too much to add, as a corollary, that 
if we could conceive of the pofTibility of 
all the previous documents of the living 
miniftry of the Apoftles of Christ, and 
of their Letters to the Churches being 



Authority of Canon, Internal. 1 4 1 

loft, while the hiftory of thofe facts was 
preferved, there would be enough left 
(according to the view of the venerable 
author of the Epiftle to the Church in 
Philadelphia), for the 'justification' of the 
foul that fhould fpiritually embrace thefe 
few truths. 

But befldes the care of thofe flrft 
Chriftians in maintaining the Scriptures, 
and their eftimation of the perfon and 
work of Christ as the central truths of 
their faith, which being preferved intact, 
all that was effential was fafe, (the mean- 
ing, doubtlefs, of thofe words of the 
ancient Father,) it is certain that the 
Chriftians of that early period believed 
that the Scriptures could become effica- 
cious only by the light and teaching of 
the Holy Spirit communicated to the 
fouls of believers. If the teftimony of 
antiquity is important and authoritative, 
let the well-attefted convictions of good 
men, who lived at the very head of the 



] 42 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

ftream, as it iffued from the Apoftles of 
Christ, teach us "on whom the ends of 
the world are come," that an infight into 
the Scriptures is to be acquired by prayer 
that the c door of light may be opened ' 
to us ; for that the f perception ' of their 
true fenfe is c given to none but to them 
to whom God and Christ grant to 
underftand them.' Now, if we candidly 
liften to the authority of antiquity, we 
mail be found f earneftly contending for 
the ' fame principle. For if it was a true 
principle then, it is fuch now, and always, 
and muft be confeffed and upheld by 
Chriftians of this and of every generation. 
In the degree, too, in which the fpirit 
that f exalts above meafure,' Reafon, as a 
judge, may depreciate or deny fuch a rule 
as this, and refufe, as unphilofophical, to 
try the infpiration of the Scriptures by 
the light of the Holy Spirit, on the 
plea that this doclrine is a part of the 
fyftem which is upon trial, and, there- 



Authority of Canon, Internal. 143 

fore, that fuch a proceeding would in- 
volve the error of a c petitio principii ; ' 
juft in that degree to be held in honour 
are thofe x Writers who have the courage 
to maintain the obnoxious principle, when 
they feel that it is not a circumftance 
merely, nor an appendage, but forms an 
organic truth of the Gofpel c wherein they 
ftand.' 



1 See Rev. E. A. Litton's valuable work, "Guide 
to the Study of Holy Scripture:" chap, on "The 
Interpretation of Scripture :" art. "Teaching of the 
Holy Spirit." " To underftand an author who has 
been infpired by the Holy Spirit to write, we need 
ourfelves to be under the influence of the fame 
Spirit." 



CHAPTER VII. 



The New Teftament bears witnefs 
to Divine " defgn" in the re- 
cord of the fa els of the Old. 

OME very momentous quef- 
tions have been agitated of 
late, having an immediate 
connection with the matter 
now under confideration, which is (it will 
be remembered), Is the Old Teftament, by 
God's appointment, an infeparable portion 
of the Truth He has left with the Church? 
To thefe queftions the Scripture fhall fur- 
nifh the reply. 




Pre-ordainedUfe of OldTeJi anient. 145 

Cf *If we attribute to the details of the 
Mofaic ritual a reference to the New 
Teftament," a dangerous principle has 
been cc conceded." But, then, it is <c if 
we attribute to Scripture what it does not 
itfelf claim, that this ill confequence will 
refult. Very inftruclive is a 2 PafTage in 
St. Paul, where he refers to the hiftory of 
the Ifraelites in their journeyings, and fays 
twice, that the things which befel them 
were "enfamples." " Pre-ordained 'types ?" 
or merely fuch by ff accommodation ?" an 
Apoftle's accommodation, we know ; but, 
ftill,fuch: clever adaptations, and no more? 

" 3 Now thefe things which came to 
pafs, are types to us," is the firft comment 
given : and, fo far as thefe words go, no 
more could be deduced from them than 
that they are inftruclive inftances. But 
when, prefently, this comment is repeated 
with an amplification, we are explicitly 

1 "Eflay," vii. p. 369. 2 1 Cor. x. 

3 1 Cor. x. 6. 

L 



146 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures . 

taught the truth that though facts of the 
Old covenant days, they are a part of that 
permanent teaching which God has given 
to the Church under the New Covenant. 
s x Now all thefe things which befel them 
are patterns' of God's retributive deal- 
ings with men at all times ; ( and they 
were made Scripture^ for a warning to us 
on whom the final difpenfations have 
lighted/ 

It is not here aflerted that the primary 
defign of God in the infliction of thefe 
chaftifements was to create an example of 
penal juftice ; (they did not, in this fenfe, 
f happen unto them for enfamples ') : 
but, that the confequences fo befalling 
thofe with whom ff God was difpleafed," 
as "the due reward of" their "deeds," 
became permanent famples of His difplea- 
fure againft, and His purpofe to punim 
the like fins, always. Nor is it merely 

1 1 Cor. x. 11. 



Pre-ordained Ufe of Old Teftament. 1 47 

faid that from thefe records of God's re- 
tributive dealings with Ifrael, inftructive 
lerTons may be extracted by Christians, as 
a Statefman reads the paft hiftory of na- 
tions, and draws from it lerTons for his 
policy ; but, that the things which f came 
to pafs' are c patterns,' model-inftances, 
to us of the Gofpel-day ; and that, in 
order that they might actually become fo, 
were by God's "determinate counfel" 
written and handed down. And thus, the 
warning inference, ccl Let him that holds 
that he {lands " ( c trufting in names and 
privileges') cc take heed left he fall," is to 
be regarded not as the judicious conclu- 
fion drawn by Paul, a pious follower of 
Christ, intelligently reading the early 
hiftory of his own nation, but without 
" 2 any inward gift," and not cf fubject to 
any power external" to him of an extra- 
ordinary kind, but as the great caution of 
the Holy Ghoft fpeaking in him, with a 

1 1 Cor. x. 12. 2 "Effay," vii. p. 345. 



148 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

view to which ufe of the hiftory by the 
future New Teftament Church, the pre- 
fcient mind of God, ages before, caufed 
thofe facts to be written in the c Book of 
Exodus,' and elfewhere. 

It has been truly urged that f f 1 the Old 
Teftament will receive a different mean- 
ing, accordingly as it is explained from 
itfelf, or from the New." But, it is plain 
that the explanation of it, (of much of it,) 
from the New, is not an optional thing ; 
and that the "types and ceremonies of 
the Law," and (as in the Paffage which has 
been enlarged upon), the fC facts of the 
hiftory," are not {f affumed," but very 
exprefsly declared to be " after a pattern" 
(under the limitations of the fenfe which 
has been affigned to the faying) fC corre- 
fponding to the things that were to be in 
the latter days." 

The further queftion ftirred by this, 

1 " EfTay," vii. p. 369. 



Its Explanation not Arbitrary. 149 

namely, how we are to regard the inter- 
pretation of the Old Teftament in the 
New, whether as the "meaning of the 
original text," or an adaptation of it to the 
occafions of later times, does not, fo put, 
prefent a fair alternative. Many " types 
and ceremonies of the law," many facts 
"and perfons of the hiftory," had a 
real, pofitive, and (for the time then 
being,) perfect meaning; a fignification and 
ufe in themfelves. They had, alfo, a Cf pre- 
deftined" ufe and meaning which was to be 
brought out in the New Teftament Day. 
In fome treatifes which have dealt with 
this fubject of ff the relation between the 
Old and New Teftaments," it is not very 
eafy to determine (if, at leaft, it is for- 
bidden to the reader to fpeculate upon the 
c animus' of many remarks,) whether 
what is faid is levelled againft New Tef- 
tament commentators upon Old Tefta- 
ment hiftories, or againft non-Scriptural 
writers, of whom it was never pretended 






150 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures . 

that they were infpired. A greater degree 
of clearnefs in this refpect would have 
faved to readers the pain which is felt, 
when it is ambiguous whether the " inter- 
preter's fancy," and fimilar phrafes, belong 
to the Apoftles and Evangelifts,or to thofe 
ingenious myftics who are reprefented as 
" having read the Bible crofs-wife." 

We are fatisfied to reft in the determi- 
nation which Scripture itfelf makes of 
the relation of its earlier and later parts. 

Thefe confiderations are important far 
beyond the circle of the particular events 
to which the Apoftle refers. They prove 
that the whole record into the texture of 
which thofe hiftories are wrought, was 
framed by the will, and under the govern- 
ance of God. Are thofe alleged actions 
of the Ifraelites true ? facts, real occur- 
rences ? And, admitted to be fuch, have 
they been correctly narrated ? If we affirm 
both, then is the c Pentateuch' itfelf a 
hiftory both true and infpired. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
The Qualifications for records 
God's Truth necejfarily 
Supernatural. 



HE infpiration theory which, 
becaufe it reprefents the 
authors of the Books of 
the Bible as fimple c ma- 
chines ' in the hand of the Divine Spirit, 
has, therefore, been fitly termed the me- 
chanical, being difcarded, the question 
will immediately arife in fome minds, 
f What do you offer in its place ? ' In a 
matter, however, fo delicate, becaufe fo 




1 5 2 Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

myfterious, the relations involved being 
thofe which fubfift: between the mind of 
God who fends a meffage, and the mind 
of man the recipient of it, it is not to be 
demanded that the place rendered vacant 
by the difmiffal of one theory, mould at 
once be filled up by fome other claiming 
to be free from all poffible objection, and 
complete. So far, indeed, is it from being 
requifite that one who undertakes to treat 
of this queftion, mould be prepared with 
fome definite method to make room for 
which the ground rauft have been fwept 
clean, that we conceive it to be quite pof- 
fible that two or more perfons may be met 
with, equally found in the great funda- 
mental articles of the Christian faith, who 
yet entertain opinions upon this recondite 
fubjecl: considerably differing from each 
other. For, it is manifeftly impoflible, 
upon a fubject fo peculiar in its nature, 
and not exprefsly treated of in the Record 
itfelf, to conftruct any theory that ihall 



Free Inquiry not Free Thought. 1 5 3 

command univerfal affent. For the 
f proof of the main organic truths of 
the Catholic faith, we can point to 
"moll: certain warrants of Holy Scrip- 
ture : " but it is otherwife in the prefent 
queftion, fo far as refpe<5ts any ont/yjlem. 
There is a clafs of minds to whom it will 
be a conclufive argument that c fuch and 
fuch ' views were maintained by Chryfof- 
tom and Jerome, and by the other Greek 
and Latin Fathers, as alfo by the beft 
Divines of the Reformed Church. Doubt- 
lefs, fuch information mould have the 
effect of leading Students of the Infpira- 
tion queftion to be patient in their in- 
quiries, and modeft in announcing their 
conclusions. But feeing that even thofe 
venerable Authorities framed their argu- 
ments upon reafon and Scripture, it may 
be permitted to thofe who enjoy the ufe 
of the former, and have lying open before 
them the page of the latter, to claim the 
prerogative of Britons, (which they do 



154 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures . 

not forfeit becaufe they are Chriftians), 
and to exercife an independent judgment 
upon this, as upon other topics connected 
with religious belief: for, to think and 
to exprefs his thoughts without reftraint, 
is the right of a free-born man. 

Freedom of inquiry upon points not 
fettled by infpired authority, is to be 
diftinguimed from either c free-thought,' 
or f free- thinking;' the former of which 
terms exprefTes the liberty claimed to 
exercife an uncontrolled judgment upon 
all fubjects, without exception, that can 
be brought before the mind ; while the 
latter has been (almoft technically) em- 
ployed to mean c deifm,' and came into 
being in the laft century. f Free-thought' 
is a wider term, taking in, though not 
particularizing, religion, an improve- 
ment ' upon c Free-thinking ; ' both being 
euphemifms invented to difguife the ob- 
jects of each. 

There are bounds within which in- 



Free Inquiry not Free Thought. 155 

quirers upon this fubject muft acknow- 
ledge themfelves as confined ; certain firft 
principles which they are to hold faft, 
and by which they are themfelves to be 
held. The Advocate for the profecution, 
in a recent c appeal ' in the matter of a 
well-known Volume, was reported as de- 
clining to be driven into a metaphyfical 
difcuffion of the doctrine of infpiration ; 
but contended that it was an influence 
which conferred upon the books in which 
it exifted, Cf a certain character different 
from all other books." He declined, 
alfo, to enter into queftions of historical 
truth, or geographical difcovery, or fcien- 
tific accuracy, confidering it Sufficient for 
his purpofe to point out that the greater!; 
latitude of criticifm was allowed to clergy- 
men of the Church of England, limited 
only by the prefence of infpiration, as 
has been defcribed. He contended that, 
in the cafe then under consideration, that 
limit had been overftepped. A clergy- 



156 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

man might ufe his reafon to afcertain the 
meaning of Scripture ; but, having afcer- 
tained the meaning, he was bound by it. 
To defcribe the Scripture as an expreffion 
of devout reafon, or the written voice of 
the congregation, was to reduce the Bible 
to the level of other religious books which 
had been written by Churchmen of influ- 
ence from time to time. A plain com- 
mon-fenfe ftatement of the queftion, in its 
legal bearings ; amply fufficient for all 
practical purpofes, and to which it need 
only be added, that the rule it lays down 
muft be regarded as applicable beyond 
the ranks of the Body for whom it was 
framed, and binding upon all alike, whe- 
ther clergy, or laymen ; upon all, without 
exception, who receive the Scriptures. 

That Advocate took the courfe which 
was profeflionally proper, not only in 
confining his remarks to the limits within 
which clergymen might exprefs their 
opinions upon theological fubjects, but 



Infpiration is Supernatural. 1 57 

alfo in not going beyond thofe broad and 
general terms in fpeaking of Infpiration 
itfelf. Such an account, however, is for 
the clofe inveftigator infufficient. True, 
the Bible is c fui generis ;' it ftands alone ; 
but the point to be determined is, in what 
its peculiarity confifts ; what are its dif- 
tinguifhing marks as a Record. It is the 
" 1 Word of God, and not of men ;" this 
fundamental principle we afTume the in- 
quirer to c embrace, and ever hold faft :' 
the point on which he defires to be 
refolved is this ; Through what chan- 
nels, and under what conditions, precifely, 
has this f word,' this mefTage from the 
cc2 Moft High God," come to "us men?" 
It is admitted that this communication 
was made through the instrumentality of 
"holy men who fpake as they were 
moved by the Holy Ghost." Now, 
fince that which they "fpake" was for 
the perpetual ufe of the Church, we may, 
1 1 Thefs. ii. 13. * Ads xvi. 17. 



158 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures . 

we muft infer that when thofe chofen 
inftruments of the Spirit proceeded to 
commit to writing what had been re- 
vealed to them, they wrote under the fame 
Divine guidance. With the Books, then, 
which make up the Bible fpread open be- 
fore him, and fending his thoughts back 
to the occafions when the feveral writers 
"took in hand to fet forth in order a 
declaration of thofe things which" ff God 
had revealed unto them by His Spirit," 
the candid inquirer would affure himfelf 
as to the £ nature' and f extent ' of the in- 
fpiration under which each wrote. The 
fubftance of the revelation is placed beyond 
the limits of fuch an inveftigation as we 
are fuppofing. 

In what did the infpiration attributed 
to the Scriptures confift? and, How far did 
it reach ? are queftions to which the moft 
reverential ftudent of theology may be im- 
agined as bending his anxious attention. 
Now, if it is reafonable to expect that 



Inspiration is Supernatural, 159 

God would impart fome knowledge to the 
human mind by other than human means, 
then the neceffity of infpiration is proved. 
For, properly, Infpiration is not the truth 
miraculoufly communicated to the mind, 
but the qualification for fulfilling the 
duty impofed upon the receiver of it ; 
which was, to fpeak, or to write down, the 
truth imparted ; or to do both. Now, the 
foul of man is fo conftru&ed by cc God 
who gave it," that it fends its thoughts 
back to the paft, to know its own origin ; 
and onwards to the future, to become 
acquainted with its deftiny : and unlefs 
thefe inquiries be fatisfied, it is miferable. 
But on thefe fubje&s it has no innate 
knowledge ; fo that, unlefs it was the 
Divine purpofe to fend information upon 
them to man, he would be in the condi- 
tion of one created with great powers, 
but deftitute of the means of exercifing 
them. With a capacity for underftanding 
the paft, and contemplating the future, 



1 60 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

upon the one and the other he would be 
wholly in the dark. c I find myfelf ' (he 
would fay) f to belong to a race concern- 
ing whofe beginnings I would fain be in- 
formed, but information I have none. I 
have a confcioufnefs of my immortality, 
of which I cannot be denuded ; but re- 
fpecling the futurity which awaits me, I 
am utterly devoid of light/ Thus reft- 
lefs would the fpirit of man be, were it 
not the purpofe of God to fend him that 
information for which " his foul hath 
appetite : " fo that we may juftly con- 
clude, that unlefs God would leave the 
higheft of His creatures in a worfe con- 
dition than that in which He has placed 
the lowefl, on which He has beftowed 
inftincl: to guide them, He would impart 
to him the knowledge which he craves. 

Now, in no other way is it conceivable 
that this end mould be accomplished, but 
through the inftrumentality of men brought 
beneath the influence of a Divine energy, 



Infpiration is Supernatural. 1 6 1 

firft, difclqfing to them truths which they 
could not otherwise have known, and then, 
enabling them to record what had been 
fo difclofed. Of thefe effects the former 
would be f revelation/ the latter f infpira- 
tion ;' a diftin<5tion which (though we be- 
lieve it to be juft, and indeed neceflary 
to be kept in view by thofe who would 
poffefs clear ideas upon the fubject,) is not 
effential to the main argument, the bafis 
of which is a truth which has been uni- 
formly believed by the Jewifh and Chrif- 
tian Churches, from the very beginning 
to the prefent day, that thoughts un- 
attainable by the ordinary proceffes of 
" reafon, experience, obfervation, and 
aflbciation of ideas, or relative fuggef- 
tion," thoughts refpefting the paft, pre- 
fent, and future, were impreffed upon the 
minds of certain men whom God raifed 
up, firft, to receive thofe impreflions, and 
then to tell them with the living voice 
to the men of their own generation, and 

M 



1 6 2 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures . 

to commit them to writing, " that their 
pofterity," to the end of time, "might 
know" thofe truths, "and the children 
which were yet unborn." 

And thus we are conducted to that 
which is the central idea, the eflential 
point, in this whole queftion, the doctrine 
of the 'Supernatural.' Here there can be 
no conceflion ; there mull: be no ambi- 
guity. The Church is called to different 
forms of trial and of duty, at different 
ftages of her hiftory. At this moment, 
the fervice to which me is fummoned, 
and in which her fidelity is to be 
tefted, is to 1 defend the supernatural. 
c Standing upon her watch, and fetting 

1 " Chriftianity offers occafion for this oppofi- 
tion " [of the human fpirit againft authority] " by 
its inherent claims, independently of accidental 
caufes ; for it afferts authority over religious belief, 
in virtue of being a fupernatural communication 
from God." — Rev. A. S. Farrar's Bampton LeBures, 
" A Critical Hiftory of Free-Thought in reference 
to the Chriftian Religion," i. pp. 1,2. 



Rationalifm, its Demands. 163 

herfelf upon the tower,' me has, at a 
preceding period, feen the fame enemy 
me is now called upon to repel, making 
his advance againft the walls. 

In the eighteenth century, the German 
Rationalifts and the Englifh Deifts com- 
bined to refift the doctrine which had 
been maintained in all ages by the Ca- 
tholic Church, that, in and through the 
Books of the c Bible,' as we have it, 
"God has fpoken." The ('mifnamed) 
Rationalifts do not deny that a revelation 
has been granted, and that the Scriptures 
i( contain " it, defigning, in the ufe of this 



1 Private opinion is the fit name for this fyftem ; 
for it has no principles whatever, and refers to no 
ftandard. It is one form of the " ftruggle of the 
human fpirit to free itfelf from the authority of the 
Chriftian faith, the lefs violent of the two " fhapes 
in which unbelief has manifefted itfelf. " In the firfl 
great ftruggle of the human mind againft the Chrif- 
tian religion, the action of reafon in criticifing its 
claims affumed two forms, Gnofticifm, or Ration- 
alifm, within the Church ; and Unbelief without." 






1 64 Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, 

word, to eftablifh a diftinction between 
the Word of God as contained in, and as 
f co-extenfive with/ Scripture ; in other 
words, to make out that not all that is 
found in the Books which, collectively, 
are known as s Scripture,' is God's 
Word, but fome parts only; a diftinc- 
tion unwarranted by Church ftandards, or 
Writers, and, in itfelf, futile. " A mer- 
chant mowing a fhip of his own, may 
fay. All my fubftance is [contained] in 
this fhip ; and yet never intend to deny 
that his fhip is part of his fubftance, nor 
yet to fay that his fhip is in itfelf." Such 
was the clever anfwer of Chillingworth 
when prefTed with a like objection by the 
Romanifts: as an illuftration, it entirely 
refutes this f fundamental theory ' of the 
Rationalifts. 

It is not a little remarkable how, from 
different ftand-points, and with very dif- 
ferent aims, the Romifh and Rationaliftic 
Schools meet in an agreement to drag 



Rationalifm, its Demands. 165 

down the pretenfions of Scripture ; the 
one, to &t up Tradition, the other, Reafon. 
But, ftrange to fay, they do not permit 
thefe books to be accepted and explained 
as other books are ; but they frame their 
own ftandard of what might have been 
expedited. Conftituting themfelves the 
judges of what is "good and profitable 
unto men," they bring in a new fenfe 
which they term the c verifying faculty,' 
a tefting power of an utterly irrefponfible 
character, which is to qualify them c to 
refufe the evil and to choofe the good,' 
of the Biblical materials before them. 
Admitting what they find in the Old and 
New Teftament to conftitute a revelation, 
in fome fenfe, and taken as a whole, they 
eliminate certain portions which this in- 
ward fecret meafure of what is fit rejects. 
By a fquare thus arbitrarily framed, they 
try the contents of the feveral Books of 
the Bible ; and their reafon is to determine 
how far the teaching found in them, 



1 6 6 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures, 

whether it relate to the nature of God,, 
or the profpedls of man, is true or falfe. 
They feem to pervert and parody the 
rule, " 1 To the law and to the teftimony," 
and to fay, c To the human intellect, and 
to the bar of reafon,' £c if they fpeak 
not according to this word, it is becaufe 
there is no light in them." You mufi: 
fufpend your verdict, (fay they,) until 
you have fifted the contents of the book 
which folicits your approval. Your fub- 
miffion is not to be yielded upon the 
profeffion, by this Volume, of any c a 
priori' claims. In a word, their motto 
is, f No ^ffkntj no infpiration.' At this 
door, were it opened wide, would come 
in all the fchemes, fpeculations, and fancies, 
and even herefies, that have ever propofed 
themfelves in the ftead of the "faith 
once delivered unto the faints." In this 
form of Cf philofophy," if in any, is to be 

1 Ifaiah viii. 20. 



Rationalifmi its Demands. 167 

recognized the portrait of the <f thief and 
the robber, which cometh not but for to 
ileal, and to kill, and to deftroy;" and 
if, eluding the vigilance of thofe who 
mould keep the gate of the city of God, 
he fhould gain an entrance, it may be 
expected that he will proceed to the 
citadel, and there make havoc of all that 
is diflinclive and effential, in the Religion 
of the Bible. 

Now, it were poffible to go beyond 
thefe rationaliftic-folk, and yet to come 
fhort of a right belief in Scriptural infpi- 
ration. c But, flop,' (I can imagine fome 
one here interrupting, and faying,) f where 
do you find the canon of right belief,' 
on which you are fo confidently pro- 
nouncing ? If the belief is ( right,' 
then there is no more controverfy. Is it 
a private dogma which you are about to 
enunciate ? or, if not, what is its autho- 
rity ? A mofl reafonable inquiry ; and, 
in its confequences, very important : for, 






1 68 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

if the reply fhall be incontrovertible, then 
the queftion, f What is infpiration ?' may- 
be regarded as finally anfwered. 

The meafure, then, of c right belief/ 
which we are to hold in our hand, to try 
any theory upon this fubjecl, is that which 
the Scripture writers have framed. On 
what account did they themfelves receive 
and obey the facred books ? was it becaufe 
all the contents of them were good, and 
holy, and true ? they believed this fincerely ; 
but this was not the proper ground on 
which they went. They bore witnefs to 
this point, that the whole and every part 
of the Scripture l was given by Divine in- 
fpiration. The Church in all ages has 
maintained this. By f the Church ' (and 
here we are committing ourfelves to fome- 
thing like a definition ; of which, however, 
we have f counted the cofV), we mean 

1 " The fubjedl of the Revelation is received as 
true becaufe Divine ; not merely regarded as Divine 
becaufe perceived to be true."— -Farrar's Bampton 
Leisures, i. 



Self-evidencing Light. 169 

thofe who wrote the Scripture, and thofe 
who believed in Christ through e their 
word ; ' a defcription which will fatisfy all, 
being that which the Lord Jesus Christ 
gives of His Church. We know that 
this witnefs is true. fC With thefe," (fays 
Owen,) <cl l had rather venture my faith 
and eternal condition, than with any fo- 
ciety, any real or pretended Church what- 
ever." To the profeffion contained in 
thefe laft words, he who now quotes them 
cordially fubfcribes, even as he agrees 
with that Writer, that the Church (fo in- 
terpreted,) was moft uncompromifing in 
the point referred to. With this prece- 
dent before our eyes, it were unlawful to 
fall down to any inferior ftandard. To 
receive the Scriptures upon any other, any 
lower ground, is, as the fame writer has 
faid, ff to compound the matter with the 
world : " a remarkable expreffion, fuggeft- 

1 "The Reafon of Faith."— Works of John 
Owen, D.D. Lond. 1823. Vol. iii. p. 266. 



I jo Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

ing the thought that the attempt to try 
the contents of the Bible at the bar of 
human reafon before giving in an adhefion 
to them, is effentially "of the world," 
the growth of man's pride and preemp- 
tion. The world fays, c I am ready to 
allow, and to make ufe of this book, 
provided that the grounds upon which I 
accept it, have been settled ; if it be dis- 
tinctly underftood on what footing I re- 
ceive it, which is juft this, that having 
read it throughout, I have come to the 
conclufion that it teaches nothing but 
what is found to be ' good and profitable 
unto men.' In a word, c The Board' of 
Reafon, having f fat' upon the claims of 
the Scripture, gives its f Teftamur,' f Ex- 
amined and Approved:' the candidate 
has paired, is even clafTed ( f in Literis 
humanioribus'), and has a c Degree' con- 
ferred upon it. But the Church, which, 
in this, and in all things, is to be our 
guide; the Church as compofed of the 



Self-evidencing Light. 171 

firft writers of Scripture, and the feed of 
true believers, gave *no countenance to 
this method. They have not left us an 
example of patronizing God's eternal 
truth. " 2 Becaufe our testimony among 
you was believed:" did the Apoftle of 
Christ only mean that they had regarded 
him as a wife and good man, and fo had 
liftened to his communications ? Do we 
imagine him, at the end of the Epiftle to 
the Romans, with its logical differtation 
on f Righteoufnefs by Faith ;' or, the Firft 
to the Corinthians, with its f great argu- 
ment ' for the c refurrection of the body ;' 
do we think of him as afking for the 
approbation of the individuals who com- 
pofed the Churches addreffed, and faying, 

1 "Non enim ideo infpiratum aliquid divinitus 
eft, quia poftea lit approbatum, fed ideo eft appro- 
batum quia fuerat divinitus infpiratum." 

" Cenfura Facultatum Sacra Theologize Lovan- 
ienjis" a.d. 1586. 

2 2Thefs. i. 10. 



IJ2 Infpiratton of the Holy Scriptures. 

as the Roman actor to the audience, at the 
conclufion of the drama, " Vos -plaudit e ? " 
So far from this, " he and Silvanus and 
Timotheus, for ! this caufe thanked God 
without ceafing, becaufe when the Church 
of the ThefTalonians received the Word of 
God which they heard of them, they accep- 
ted it as (admitted it as being) not the word 
of men, but, as it is in truth, the Word 
of God." Nothing fhort of this rifes up 
to the full fenfe of the tf witnefs" which 
the Church of true believers in all ages 
has given to the Scriptures. Wherein 
lay the elTential guilt of thofe who in the 
time of the Prophets, denied the infpira- 
tion, and fpake of their teaching as 
" 2 wind," and faid f The word is not 
in them ? ' Was it not that in fuch re- 
jection of c His words in their mouth ' 
they had virtually " belied the Lord," 
and faid, in effect, cc 3 Not he." To demur 

1 I Thefs. ii. 13. 3 Jeremiah v. 13. 

3 Jeremiah v. 12. 



Self-evidencing Light. 173 

upon the admiflion of St. John's Epiftle 
as of immediate Divine authority, is to 
" J make God a liar ;" for it is to difbe- 
lieve the "record that God gave of His 
Son," as through the word of others, fo 
by the pen of " His fervant John," at 
that very moment when he was writing 
his letter. Thefe two instances deferve 
the mod earneft attention, for they exhibit 
the refufal to acknowledge c the word 
fpoken by Apoftles and Prophets,' as af- 
fixing upon the recufants the very high 
impiety of c making God a liar ;' the re- 
jection of His Word given by His fer- 
vants, being in each cafe fo characterized. 
It is a truth which, perhaps, is not 
vividly prefent to the minds of fome who 
are occupied with this fubject, that the 
Scriptures are to us, as the Apoftles were 
to thofe to whom they preached in their 
travels, and living miniftry. Not only do 
they fupply the place of that perfonal 

1 I John, v. 10. 






174 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

work ; not only are they intended to ac- 
complish the fame end, that of bringing 
men to c believe on Christ Jesus/ but 
they Hand upon the very fame ground, 
and prefent themfelves with the very fame 
authority. Let us in imagination place 
ourfelves on " 1 Mars' Hill," there with 
the " men of Athens," hearing Paul (who 
had cc2 feen Jesus Christ our Lord,") 
call upon the people who flood before 
him cc to repent : " then let us try to 
realize the voice of the fame Paul now, 
fpeaking to us the very words he ufed at 
Athens, as we have them recorded in the 
Book of the f Acls,' and faying, Receive 
this cc not as the word of man, but as it 
is in truth, the Word of God." What- 
ever argument he and Peter can be fup- 
pofed to have employed wherefore their 
living teaching mould be received by ff all 
men everywhere," applies to us with equal 

1 Afts xvii. 22. 2 I Cor. ix. I. 



Self-evidencing Light, iy§ 

cogency that we mould receive the Holy 
Scriptures. For, it is the f record' itfelf 
that comes to us with the Holy Spirit's 
feal upon it ; and cc GoD-breathed" is the 
infcription graven on it. Such, indeed, 
is the dodtrine it contains, (for which alone 
the c writing' is of any value) : fuch were 
the men who penned it ; and, pre-eminent 
among them, Paul, the author of this 
memorable compound f ! Theopneuftos,' 
(a word 2 peculiar to the Revelation,) the 
chofen term of the Spirit to whom it refers : 
but fuch, too, is the document itfelf, c the 
Scripture.' Were men now to ftand up 
in our congregations, or preach in our 
ftreets, bringing with them credentials of 
being c infpired,' in the high and proper 
fenfe of that word, that is, of being im- 
mediately taught of God, we fhould Men 
to them with the moft profound attention. 

1 2 Tim. iii. 16. 

8 See Townsend's " Scriptural Communion with 
God." Part i. p. 32. 



176 Infpiratlon of the Holy Scriptures . 

Precifely fuch is the {landing of the 
Scriptures in the midft of the Church. 
They are not one degree removed from 
the writers of them, in their divinity. 
ff Moved by the Holy Ghost were Paul 
and Peter, when at Athens, or at Jerufalem, 
they fpake unto the people. ImprerTed 
" ' by the fame Spirit," and of co-ordinate 
authority, are the record of their living 
fermons, and the Letters which they wrote 
to the Churches. 

We claim, then, for the infpiration of the 
Scriptures, the testimony of the Church ; 
but we mean the Church of " all be- 
lievers," (" Thanks be unto God for" 
that thoroughly Scriptural phrafe, and for 
the inheritance of that venerable hymn 
in which it is enfhrined) ; Cf the Holy 
Church throughout all the world," com- 
pofed of fC 2 all who in every place call 
upon the Name of Jesus Christ our 

1 1 Cor. xii. 4. 2 I Cor. i. 2. 



Self- evidencing Light. ijy 

Lord;" who have been cf fanctified in 
Christ Jesus," and are therefore ' holy.' 
Of the evidence that the Bible is the 
Word of God, which itfelf fupplies, this 
is a part ; but it is not the whole. fC l If 
we receive the witnefs of" even infpired 
ff men, the witnefs of God is greater ;" a 
greater afliirance to the foul. Let any 
call it enthufiafm if they pleafe, it muft 
be firmly maintained that the true foun- 
dation on which our acceptance of Scrip- 
ture as God's Word muft reft, is the dis- 
covery of its infpiration made to and by the 
foul of each individual believer, and that 
any other way than this is not God's way. 
He has fpoken to the foul of man imme- 
diately by His Spirit in the Word, 
though He has employed a Prophet, or 
an Apoftle, to be His amanuenfis ; and, 
by the foul to which He thus direftly 
fpeaks, it is His purpofe to be heard and 

1 I John v. 9. 

N 



178 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

recognized. And thus another important 
queftion will have been fettled. The 
f authority ' of the Scripture, its binding 
claim upon our fubmirlion, depends upon 
its 'perceived infpiration. Marvelloufly 
exaggerated has been the weight attaching 
to the Church's atteftation. External 
teftimony, the fuffrages of early Councils 
and Synods, is not without its value ; 
nay, rather is it of great moment, within 
juft limits : but the proper f authority ' is 
that which arifes out of the Scriptures 
themfelves to each ftudent of them. 
When an infpired writer (and we know 
that fuch c witnefs is true ') fays, concern- 
ing a great proportion, that it is c Entitled 
to belief, and claims to be received by 
all,' he lays the ftrefs of his afTertion upon 
the doctrine itfelf. But, to receive any 
thing from a c Church ' as a Church, and 
to repofe on this as our mainftay, is 

1 1 Tim. i. 15. 



Self-evidencing Light. 179 

to build upon a totally different bafis. 
s Authority' over the human confcience 
no proportion or fet of propositions can 
poffibly porTefs, except fo far as they are 
true, come they from what quarter of the 
Univerfe they may. The Scripture, 
" God's Word written," is true, becaufe 
it has truth in itfelf. The meafure of its 
truth is the meafure of its authority. 
Now, it is abfolutely true, becaufe it 
Cf proceeded and came forth from God." 
It is, therefore, abfolutely authoritative. 
Scripture c fits a queen,' over all human 
minds and confciences fupreme. It can 
make no lefs a claim, being effential 
Truth, emanating from God Himfelf. 
Nothing more is required to prove that it 
needs not to be backed by any teftimony 
from without. The confent of the 
Church in its earlieft days, and in every 
fubfequent age, is rather the tribute paid 
to the majefty of truth, than the addition 
by as much as a iingle grain to the 



1 8 o Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

certainty of Scripture : tcl l receive not 
honour from men." 

The written Word of God takes up 
this ground as truly as did the Incarnate 
Word. 2 The Bible mines by its own 
light. An illuftration (it is fometimes 
and truly urged,) is not an argument : 
fome illuftrations, however, are fo ftriking 
that they are as fatisfa&ory as logical 
arguments. Now, it has been remarked, 
that when the fun mines, no demonftration 
is needed of the fact : the glorious bright- 
nefs of the luminary is its own witnefs. 
To produce evidence that the fun is 
mining, were not only fuperfluous, but 
the wilder!: folly. 

Alike true, naturally and morally, is 
the c dictum,' c whatfoever makes it/elf 

1 John v. 41. 

2 See a Work by Dr.T. Jackfon, (Dean of Peter- 
borough, in the early part of the Seventeenth cen- 
tury) : " The eternal truth of Scripture, and 
Chrirtian belief thereon wholly depending, mani- 

fefted by its own light." — London, 1673. 



Self-evidencing light. 1 8 1 

manifeft is light.' As true (though not 
the ftricT: logical converfe,) is the proposi- 
tion, c whatever is light, properly and 
effentially, makes it/elf manifeft.' ] "God 
is light:" His truth has its rife in the 
depths of His own Being ; and he poured 
forth the rays of His effential light into 
the f reafonable foul ' of prophets, and 
evangelifts, and apoftles, when He re- 
vealed to them His truth. It was His 
light, and not their own brilliant genius, 
which c ftione before men ' when they 
fpake or wrote. Ifluing from that fpring, 
and introduced into the mind of each 
£ holy man of God,' the light was not 
diminifhed or dimmed, or in any way 
affected, by palling through the human 
channel, but came forth from the lips, or 
the pen of each, as pure and perfect as it 
firft came forth from God. 
2 "Bright effluence of bright efTence, increate;" 

1 I John i. 5. 

9 Milton's Paradife Loft, Book in. 5. 



1 8 2 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

this, the poet's defcription of the Perfonal, 
is fcarcely lefs true of the written Word ; 
"the moft eminent reflection of uncreated 
light and excellencies." 

This, then, is our conclufion. A 
Record thus f born of God,' thus felf- 
evidencing, has within itfelf a witnefs to 
its own infallible infpiration, which ex- 
tinguishes every other, even as the fun's 
beams vanquifh. the light of a candle 
found in the room which they enter ; fo 
that it has been well faid that it matters 
not how the Scripture has come to us, 
whether by a child or a church ; by 
accident, (were there fuch a caufe,) or by 
tradition ; by confent of men voting it to 
be Scripture, or by Providence ; to us it 
has come, with convincing evidence con- 
tained within itfelf, that " *God is in" it 
" of a truth." To the fpecial providence 
of God, no doubt, we owe it that the 

1 i Cor. xiv. 25. 



Self-evidencing light. 183 

Sacred Books have thus come to us, 
hiftory proving that in this and other 
lands, the fpirit of perfecution was hot 
againft the authors, and would fain have 
crufhed both them and their Works. 

And, like as we owe no obligation to 
the Church of the paft, fo, befides that 
of being l cc a witnefs and keeper," a 
truftee, we affign no importance to the 
Church of the prefent day, as though it 
upheld Scripture. When, in a Christian 
fociety, " 2 the pure Word of God is 
preached, and the Sacraments duly min- 
iftered according to Chrift's ordinance;" 
when its Cf 3 children " are f f found walk- 
ing in truth," fuch a church is cc 4 holding 
forth the word of life," exhibiting and 



1 Twentieth "Article of Religion;" "Of the 
Authority of the Church." 

2 Nineteenth " Article of Religion ;" " Of the 
Authority of the Church." 

3 2 John, 4. 

* Philipp. ii. 16. 



1 84 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

recommending, but not fanctioning, the 
truth of God. Its tendency to produce 
fuch refults, with the experience of them 
in fact, is the legitimate, the real tefti- 
mony to the divinity of Scripture : any 
other is either artificial, or altogether fub- 
ordinate. When minds are enlightened, 
and confciences awakened, and c unruly 
wills ordered,' by the miniftration of 
God's Word, he who feels or fees fuch 
effects is thereby led perfonally, intelli- 
gently, unalterably, to Cf fet to his feal 
that " Scripture, in its every part, is 
" GoD-breathed." 

The Florentine poet has a Angularly 
appoflte pafTage, where St. Peter, quef- 
tioning him concerning his faith, afks : 

1 " And how didft thou obtain 
The gem Co coftly whereon refts the ground 
Of all the virtues ? " " That unftinted rain," 

1 " Quefta cara gioia, 
Sovra la quale ogni virtu ii fonda, 
Onde ti venne ? Ed io : La larga ploia 



Church-tejiitnony exaggerated. 185 

I anfwered, " Of God's Spirit, which is poured 
O'er the New page and Ancient, doth fo plain 

A fyllogifm, to prove me this, afford, 
That every demonilration, to be told 

Thereafter, would appear an edgelefs fword." 

See how, more than five centuries and a 
half ago, a mind of the higheft order 
conferTes that the grace of the Holy 
Spirit poured out upon the Writings 
of the Old and New Teftament, had 
wrought fo pointed a conviction of their 
truth, that, in comparifon, all formal 
demonftration feemed weak. 

A general reprefentative AfTembly of 
all the Churches in Christendom, (were 
fuch a convention poffible), which mould 
add its own fubfcription and feal, as a 



Dello Spirito fanto, ch'e diffufa 
In fu le vecchie e in fu le nuove cuioia 
E fillogifmo, che la mi ha conchiufa 
Acutamente, fi che in verfo d'ella 
Ogni dimonftrazion mi pare ottufa." 
— Dante: Del Paradifo, cant. 24*°. 89— g6. Tranf- 
lation, by C. B. Cayley, B.A., London, 1854. 






1 8 6 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures . 

Catholic Body, to thofe of all the parti- 
cular Churches that have ever met, or 
made f Declarations,' from the Apoftles' 
day to the prefent hour, could not confer 
upon the Scriptures the leaft particle of 
authority : of this their intrinfic truth is 
the fole and fufficient bafis. 

cc 1 Matter, we would fee a fign from 
Thee : " fuch is the demand of thofe, in 
every generation, whofe characteristics are 
the fame as theirs who firft made it. 
But " there mail no fign be given," other 
than that which the wifdom of God has 
appointed. The £ felf-evidencing light of 
the Scripture,' as it has been well termed, 
is the true ground of belief in its infpira- 
tion ; f true,' becaufe it is in this way 
that it has "feemed good in" God's 
" fight " to f give ' moral l aflurance unto 
all men,' that in thefe Scriptures He 
" 2 has fpoken. " c He that ' is thus 

Matt. xii. 38, 39. 2 Heb. i. 1,2. 



Church-tejiimony exaggerated. 187 

brought to c believe on the Son of God, 
1 hath the witnefs in himfelfV not, how- 
ever, any private whifper this, or fecret 
difcovery made to the foul ; nor a fpiritual 
operation unconnected with the ufe of 
means, but the testimony of the Holy 
Ghost, patent to, and to be judged of 
by all, by a folid and enduring work in 
the principles and the life of him who fo 
believes. 

It will be perceived that thefe views 
are not in agreement with, nay, are 
directly oppofed to fome which have 
been put forth upon the fubject. A valu- 
able Work, which has recently appeared, 
has received only qualified praife from 
fome critics, on the ground that it "omits 
c the teftimony of the Church' to the in- 
fpiration of Scripture, fuch outward tefti- 
mony " being <f in point of fact, the main 
bulwark of the true doctrine of infpira- 

1 1 John v. 10. 



1 8 8 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

tion, to which other arguments appealing 
to the reafon of the cafe are rather fup- 
plementary." When the author of thefe 
ftriclures goes on to ftate that the caufe 
of Biblical-infpiration does not hang upon 
fo precarious a thread as that of our 
own inferences, from what we may have 
difcovered of a fupernatural character in 
the fadls recorded, but " rather " upon 
this, that " we are told, upon competent 
authority, that" the Scriptures "do come 
from God," we mould gladly find his 
meaning in " the teftimony of the Scrip- 
tures to themfelves; or, in other words, 
the account given of the nature and 
channel of their meffage by men whofe 
divine commiffion is already and indepen- 
dently eftablifhed; the teftimony, above 
all, both of the Apoftles and of our Lord 
Himfelf, to the divine authority of the 
Old Teftament, and fo, by analogy, of 
the New alfo." But we are forbidden fo 
to explain the language of the critique, 



Church-tejlimony exaggerated. 1 89 

becaufe it explicitly afTerts that outward 
teftimony is the true fupport of the pre- 
tenfions of Scriptural infpiration ; a pro- 
position which it has been the defign of 
the preceding remarks to controvert. 

External testimony (in which we in- 
clude arguments of every kind not drawn 
from "what is read" in the Scriptures 
themfelves), is analogous to tradition. 
Tradition is not an afTeflbr with Scripture 
upon the throne of judgment, but fits in 
a lower place ; and its voice is liftened 
to, fo long as it preferves its diftance 
refpectfully, fpeaks in a humble tone, 
and is content to fuggeft modeftly what 
may be, without prefuming to pronounce 
what is, the meaning of any fentence that 
is heard from the throne itfelf. 



CHAPTER IX. 




Infpiration and Human Genius 
effentially different, 

HE view juft exprefTed, that 
by the light which mines 
from the Scripture itfelf, 
we difcover its infpiration ; 
and the aflertion of the Rationalift, that 
f f the nature of infpiration can only be 
known by the examination of Scripture," 
at the firft glance feem fo much alike, 
that the author of the latter fentiment 
(to employ his own phrafe), might be 
1 fC ready to make hands with thofe who," 

1 " Effay " vii. p. 344. 



Scriptures, howfalfely meafured. 191 

he thinks, cf ufe the fame language with 
himfelf." But more than cc a doubt in- 
finuates itfelf," whether that language of 
ours, in which he fancies that he fees 
agreement with himfelf, do really contain 
fuch agreement. We are fare it does 
not, and that the difference between us is 
wide. For it is one thing to affert that 
the Book is a witnefs to its own infallible 
infpiration ; another, that from an ex- 
amination of the Book upon our own 
principles, and with a f verifying faculty ' 
" in our right hand " as our tf line and 
plummet," we are to be the judges what 
fort of infpiration is to be affigned to it. 

The { freehandler ' of Scripture declines 
to begin by afking whether it has faid any- 
thing about itfelf, and its own authority : 
this, he thinks, would be to prejudge the 
queftion: he claims the right of determin- 
ing how much or how little it ought to 
fay. The Church, commencing from a 
different point of view, and with an a -priori 



192 Scriptures , how truly meafured. 

admiflion of Scripture authority, fearches 
for any statements on the fubjecl: of in- 
fpiration, and having found fuch, regards 
the queftion, fo far at leaft as refpects the 
fact, as determined. The religion re- 
cognifes, and fo authenticates infpiration ; 
and the evidence mines from the Book 
itfelf : which latter truth fo far defcribes 
the nature of infpiration as to indicate a 
feature, an important peculiarity of it ; 
but it flops fhort of any fuch account of 
it as would reach to a definition, for 
that mould contain the effence. Many 
attempts have been made at defining in 
this cafe, fome of which have come 
nearer, fome have been farther off from 
what would fully fatisfy our idea of 
infpiration as the characterise of the 
Bible. To one it fuggefts itfelf as the 
imprefiion on the human mind, by a 
Divine power, of a thought, or thoughts, 
refpecting the paft, prefent, or future, 
which it never could have obtained in 



Infpiration not an Attainment. 193 

the ufual or human manner, by the ex- 
ercife of its own faculties, or from the 
information of others. 

On a point of fuch delicacy and diffi- 
culty, in which Scripture gives no help, 
(for, while the fact is unqueftionably de- 
clared, nothing is found about its condi- 
tions, after a rigid logical manner), it 
feems fafer not to venture upon a de- 
finition at all, but to confine ourfelves 
to that which will be, for all practical 
purpofes, fufficient ; to offer an indirect 
rather than a direct: account of the fub- 
ject; to defcribe rather than attempt to 
define it. 

The grand fallacy (if it be no worfe, and 
have not its origin in any moral caufes in 
the fouls of the Authors), is, that infpira- 
tion " differs merely in degree from human 
genius." According to this theory, Paul 
the Apoftle differed from the members 
of either of the Churches to whom he 
wrote, by poflefling ordinary endowments 
o 



194 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

in a higher degree than they ; he flood 
higheft in the fcale of common gifts. 
Now, this we hold to be a moft ferious 
1 untruth. Without any fpecial, any ex- 
traordinary afliftance, Reafon may make 
its greateft efforts, and Genius achieve its 
moft fplendid difcoveries. Newton may 
excogitate his immortal <c Principia," and 
Shakefpeare his equally undying dramas. 
Between the productions of thefe wonder- 
ful minds, and infpiration, an infinite 
cc gulf is fixed." We fpeak of infpira- 
t\on-proper, not recognizing that employ- 
ment of the word by which it is made to 
fignify an exalted ft ate of the creative 
faculty, fuch as produces poetry of the 
higheft order, or, indeed, any other great 
refult, whether of that which is ftriclly 
called 'genius,' or of the ratiocinative 

1 " St. Paul was infpired, no doubt ; fo was 
Shakefpeare. He who fays this, intending no 
quibble, declares that in his belief St. Paul was not 
infpired at all." — Sermons by Rev. J. W. Burgon. 



Infpiration not an Attainment. 195 

powers. The bleffing of Him from 
whom <f cometh every good and perfect 
gift," upon the mental faculties in their 
ordinary, their normal condition, accom- 
plices all of which the human mind is 
capable. The fubjecl, indeed, is the 
fame, in the ordinary and extraordinary 
operations : in both cafes it is the foul of 
man, the fame piece of Divine workman- 
fhip which is wrought upon, though the 
mode and the effect are, in each cafe, 
efTentially different. 







CHAPTER X. 



c Extent ' of Infpiration as 
refpeSis the fpace. 

HE foregoing remarks have 
dealt with the queftion of 
the c Nature' of infpiration, 
negatively. A broad dif- 
tindtion has been claimed between human 
abilities, even in their higheft form and 
cultivation, and the extraordinary imme- 
diate communication from God of truth 
which could not otherwife have been 
known. By genius and ftudy man may 
rife up to eminent achievements in the 




Infpiration , how far did it reach ? 197 

one ; only by fpecial Divine interference 
can he accomplish the refults of the 
other. 

The obfervations have not been other 
than negative, becaufe anything more 
would have anticipated that which now 
comes on. Any pofitive Statements would 
have run up into the queftion which is 
next to be confidered, which is, the 
* Extent ' of this fupernatural influence : 
how far did it reach ? 

Of this inquiry there are two afpects ; 
or, at leaft, there are two views of c ex- 
tent.' The one is, over what /pace did 
it extend ? How much of what we find 
in the Books of the Bible, is to be held 
as infpired ? The other is, Of this in- 
fpiration, what were the proper marks ? 
In what did it confift ? 

The former of thefe afpecls will here 
occupy us. And, following the plan as 
before, we may enquire whether the 
Scriptures themfelves afFord us any help. 






198 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

Here it will be neceffary to examine, 
fomewhat particularly, their language in 
one remarkable place ; the lafl two 
verfes of the Firft chapter of the Second 
Epiftle of St. Peter : " Knowing this 
firft, that no prophecy of the Scripture is 
of any private interpretation. For the 
prophecy came not, in old time, by the 
will of man, but holy men of God fpake 
as they were moved by the Holy 
Ghost." 

Apart from one or two other critical 
fuggeftions to be offered, not as we deem 
unimportant, but yet fubordinate, the 
true fenfe of the word "prophecy," as 
found in the three concluding verfes, is 
that on which we lay the main ftrefs. 
For want of a juft apprehenfion of its 
meaning, a moft important argument for 
Biblical infpiration has fuffered lofs. The 
general view of its import is very con- 
tracted. {< Prophecy " is explained as 
' prediction,' and as that only, whereas, 



Contrasted notion of Prophecy. 1 9 9 

a prophet, in the language of Scripture, 
is one who fpeaks for God ; not in His 
name merely, as an ambafTador fpeaks 
c for ' the fovereign who fends him ; not 
in His behalf, as an advocate c for ' his 
client ; not in His ftead, as a Regent 
acts in the realm c for ' the heir to the 
throne, who is as yet a minor : but a 
prophet is one who fpeaks c for' God, as 
His inftrument. 

Of the two elements which compofe the 
word lf prophetes,' the former unquestion- 
ably does, as its primary and proper fenfe, 
mean c before:' but this meaning difap- 
pears, or is modified, when it is com- 
pounded with the other and fecond ele- 
ment. Critics have afTerted that the firft 
employment of this term was to denote 
the interpreter of the predictions uttered in 
the heathen temples, for which they ad- 
duce authorities. But then, thofe prophets 

1 Ttpotpirrjs 



200 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

were fo called, not as the authors, but as 
the c tellers-forth ' to the people of the 
meaning of the oracles. And if the word 
c prophet ' was by the Greeks applied to 
poets who, having begun by invoking 
the Divine influence, were fuppofed to 
write under the influence for which they 
had prayed, yet it was as c uttering forth ' 
their heaven-breathed thoughts that they 
acquired the name. Prediction formed 
no part of the tafk, whether of the 
Delphic functionary, or of the Grecian 
poet. In the cafe of the latter, it 
might fometimes appear in the brief and 
dark hints of the dramatic chorus ; but 
it was there an accident, not a character- 
iftic. 

f A Prophet,' in the large and com- 
prehenfive fenfe which the word bears in 
Scripture, was one in whom the Spirit of 
God had made a revelation of truth to 
be communicated by the lips, or the pen, 
of that man., It may have been either 



Contrasted notion of Prophecy. 201 

prediction, or a warning meflage, or thefe 
blended together : or, it may have been 
an exact acquaintance with historical facts. 
The Spirit, fpeaking firft * in,' and then 
f by ' him to the people, conftituted him 
a prophet. There was within him a 
confcioufnefs of the fpecial entrance of the 
Spirit into his foul, which was to him 
the warrant, and an impulfe irrefiftibly 
urging him, whether to c fpeak to the 
people,' or to c write the words in a book.' 
He c could not but fpeak the things 
which he had heard.' 

Any reader of the Old Teftament 
throughout, whofe mind had not been 
pre-occupied with the ufual limited accep- 
tation of the word, could not fail to 
underftand it in that large fenfe which 
we have now claimed for it. The cc Pro- 
phet " of whom the old Records tell, is 
one who fpake concerning not only 
<( things to come," but things belonging 
to the paft, or his own time. The 



2 o 2 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures . 

effence of his official character was that 
God fpake in and by him. 1 

There is an expreffion found in the 
Gofpels, which fimply and compa&ly de- 
clares the nature of infpiration, and is 
worth a volume of arguments. Keeping 
it in memory, and often turning to it, the 
" way-faring men, though fools, mail not 
err therein." To the book-learned, and 
the unlettered, it is alike fufficient. We 
refer to the oft-repeated formula, <f That 
it might be fulfilled which was fpoken of 

1 In this fenfe, writers nearly coeval with the 
Old Teftament period underftood and freely em- 
ployed the term. Jofephus does fo unequivocally, 
in thefe words : " As to the time from the death of 
Mofes until the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Periia, 
who reigned after Xerxes, the prophets who were 
after Mofes wrote down what was done in their 
time, in thirteen books. . . . From Artaxerxes to 
our own time, our hiftory has been written very 
particularly, but hath not been efteemed worthy of 
like faith with the former, becaufe there hath not 
been an'exaft fucceffion of prophets" (infpired men) 
"fince that time." — Contr. Apion. i. 8. 






"Of the Lord, by the Prophet." 203 

the Lord by the Prophet." God fpeaks ; 
f of/ in our tranflation, being, as we more 
commonly fay, f by ; ' and pointing to the 
&2/fr-element, to the Author : He fpeaks 
f by,' that is, c through,' a man, the inftru- 
mental-element. Compare herewith the 
words of the Lord on fending Mofes ; 
" x I will be with thy mouth : " and, as 
clofely fimilar, thofe of the Apoftles, 
when, quoting the Pfalm, they prayed ; 
fc2 Thou art the God who haft made 
heaven and earth, Who through the mouth 
of Thy fervant David haft faid." Words 
very remarkable for their full and explicit 
afcription to God, as the immediate In- 
fpirer of what had been fpoken, through 
David, indeed, but only as the channel 
for conveying them to man. It would 
not be poflible to exaggerate the import- 
ance of this oft-recurring phrafe, fo much 
does it teach ; the reference to it at this 

1 Exod. iv. 12. 2 Atts iv. 24, 25. 



2 o 4 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures . 

place in the argument, having been made 
with a fpecial view to the light it throws 
upon the largenefs of the meaning of the 
word c Prophet.' For, it is to be care- 
fully noticed, that in many of the Books 
to which that word, as found in the New 
Teftament, points, no prediction what- 
ever is found ; making it plain that the 
term 'prophet' could not in that fenfe 
have been applied to the writers of them, 
by the Evangelifts. 

The words of St. Peter, in his Firft 
Epiftle, do undoubtedly refer to c predic- 
tion : ' ccl The Prophets witneffed before- 
hand the fufferings which were (to come) 
upon Christ, and the confequent glories" 
of His refurrection and exaltation : but, 
they do not in any way militate againfl; 
the interpretation claimed for "written 
prophecy ;" a phrafe, (as we hold,) iden- 
tical with, f 2 The whole of the Old Tef- 

1 i Pet. i. 21. 

2 As confirmatory of this view, compare Luke 



St. Peter's ufe of < Prophecy.' 205 

tament-Record,' without any distinction 
of the fubject-matter of its feveral books. 

None will fuppofe that when, in terms 
manifestly taken from St. Peter's words, 
(in his Firft Epiftle,) the Nicene Creed 
fays that the Holy Ghost <c fpake by 
the Prophets," the aflertion is to be 
underftood as limited to the properly- 
predictive portion of their writings. 

The term which, as ufed by Peter, is 
thus mown to have covered the entire Old 
Teftament, is by his cc x beloved brother 
Paul," applied to the writers of the New. 

Let this be well weighed, for we are 
now on fpecially important ground ; fince, 
if it be made good, we fhall poflefs, from 
two Apoftles of Chrift, jointly, a tefbi- 
mony to the infpiration of the whole 
Bible : of the whole Old Teftament, in 
explicit terms, by one ; and of the New, 

xxiv. 27. (the eye being kept on the original), with 
St. Peter's words, I Ep. i. II. 
1 2 Pet. iii. 15. 






2 o 6 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

as implied, by the other. For, by a 
comparifon of the fourth and fifth verfes 
of the Third Chapter of the Epiftle to 
the Ephefians, with the fifth and two fol- 
lowing of the Sixteenth to the Romans, 
it will be feen that all the Apoftles were 
c prophets ; ' and that their Writings were 
c prophetical writings ; ' the latter phrafe 
anfwering exactly to that ufed by St. 
Peter, in which, it has been mown, he 
comprifed the whole of the Old Tefta- 
ment. 

Clofe infpection, here, will lead to the 
conclufion that c Prophecy,' in its legiti- 
mate, its proper {qi\(q, is The Total of 
Scripture. 

Great light will thus be {een breaking 
in upon the PafTage in St. Peter already 
indicated ; a portion of Scripture which 
has engaged the careful thought of many 
learned men, and of which, as bearing in 
fo diredt a manner upon the queftion of 



St. Peter s ufe of ' Prophecy ' 207 

Biblical Infpiration, it may be permitted 
us to prefent a paraphrafe in its integrity, 
and fo to take the fureft courfe for a right 
understanding of the important argument 
it contains. 

s Now, we have what is more arTuring,' 
(as a testimony to Christ as the Son of 
God, which was the Subject of that voice 
from heaven, but of which voice, though 
attefted by myfelf and thofe who were 
with me, you might either be doubtful, 
or regard it as a precarious foundation 
whereon to reft your faith, in fo important 
a matter,) c the record of prophecy, which 
deferves your moft earneft attention, as 
being a light mining in a dark place, (this 
world).' Omitting any paraphrafe of the 
remainder of this verfe, as not efTential 
to the argument, the following may con- 
vey the fenfe of what remains of the 
chapter : f Recognizing this as a firft 
principle, that no prophecy of Scripture,' 



208 Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

(that is, no part of the Old Teftament 
Writings,) f fprings from any private 
refolution' (or difcovery). 

f For it was not by ' (any) c will of man 
that prophecy ' (the Old Teftament Scrip- 
ture) c in old time was introduced ; but, 
borne forward by the Holy Ghost,' (cer- 
tain) c men fet apart by God (for that 
fpecial purpofe, c infpired men') fpake,' 
(and wrote). 

A few words of comment upon the 
Paflage fo paraphrafed. In the outfet of 
his ftatements we are told, by an Apoftle 
of Chrift, that he is about to enunciate a 
fundamental f principle, to be fubmitted 
to without further difpute.' What he 
does fay, then, is an infpired axiom. 
Now we know that upon a mathematical 
axiom, the weightier!, fuperftructures are 
raifed. Grant the firft principle, and all 
is built up: everything then follows in 
eafy order. Attempt, after that the edifice 
of reafoning has been raifed, to withdraw 



Comment on St. Peter's Woi-ds. 209 

that axiom from beneath, and the whole 
building falls. Carry this analogy to the 
particular Truth for the fake of which 
the Apoftle demands that it be owned ; 
and you will fee the immenfe importance 
of the doctrine of Infpiration. St. Peter 
tells us that it is a foundation-principle ; 
the 'beginning;' the ftarting-point of all 
right views upon any other matters. 

• Of this confefTedly difficult paffage any 
adequate 'criticifm would extend to an 



1 I. TtpibTOv is equivalent to a'py/?- 2. ylverai 
(not eon, with which the various explanations of 
the Paffage all agree in confounding it), properly ex- 
preffes 'origination.' 3. icS/ac eTriXvaeug is the 
principal difficulty ; the ftridr. rendering of which, 
perhaps, is 'private (or, uninfpired) refolution;'' the 
words referring to the original Author of the irpo- 
tyrjTsla, the 'Prophet' himfelf, not to the modern 
interpreter ; although ufually, and almoft invariably, 
they are fo explained, to the perverhon of the fenfe 
as conclusively determined by the following member 
of the fentence. To ' fpeaking by the impulfe of 
the Holy Ghost,' in the latter claufe, is oppofed, 
P 



2 1 o Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

inconvenient length. But, after all the 
fuggeftions which have been offered as to 
the meaning of the original words for 
"private interpretation," their fenfe would 
feem to be determined, beyond difpute, 
by the latter member of the fentence. 
What is the contradictory of the afTertion 
that c infpired men ' c fpake as they were 
fupernaturally moved ? ' Jure, this, that 
when any fpake, it was as a c private' man, 
in his ' individual' capacity. The Apoftle, 
therefore, is here to be underftood, not as 
forbidding " felf-interpretation," (the ex- 
planation of any paffage as if it c flood 
alone,' inftead of comparing it with other 

' prophefying out of their own hearts:' (Ezek.xiii. z). 

4. QeXrifxan dvQpwwov, (compare John i. 1 3) human 
will as contrafted with ' Divine communication.' 

5. ay 101, 'facred' has, in the N. T., the peculiar 
fenfe of * confecrated,' or ' fet apart by the fpecial 
teaching and defignation of the Holy Ghojt. Ct. 
Rom. i. 2, for this attribute as given to the writings 
of the ' Prophets ' by name : and, v. 19, for ' Pro 
phecy ' as announcing the Gofpeh 



Comment on St. Peter s Words. 211 

ParTages ;) nor as laying down any rule 
whatsoever, but as denying that any por- 
tion of the cc Writings of the Prophets" 
f had its origin in private opinion,' in any 
views which the writers held, merely cc as 
men." 

This view of the meaning of the ori- 
ginal of "private interpretation," (and 
which the Translators may have defigned 
to exprefs,) is fupported by 1 Owen. 
" This, then," (fays that writer,) " is the 
intention of the Apoftle : The Prophecy 
which we have written, the Scripture, was 
not an ijjTue of men's fancied enthufiafms ; 
not a product of their own minds and con- 
ceptions ; not an interpretation of the will 
of God by the understanding of man, 
that is, of the Prophets themf elves : neither 
their rational appreheniions, inquiries, 
conceptions of fancy, or imaginations of 
their hearts, had any place in this bufinefs : 

1 Vol. iv. p. 397. Works. Lond. 1823. 



212 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

no felf-afflation, no rational meditation, 
s managed at liberty by the understanding 
and wills of men,' had place herein." 

Thus Scripture has, again, helped us in 
our inquiry. We faw before how it afTerts 
the faff of its own infpiration : now we 
have heard it declare the compafs of 
ground which that affertion includes. A 
great point this to have reached. St. 
Peter's Second Epiftle thus ftands out 
before us inverted with peculiar intereft : 
for, befides its other important announce- 
ments refpecting the " Day of the Lord," 
and " The New Heavens and New 
Earth," it contains thefe two doctrines 
bearing directly upon the main fubject ; 
that St. Paul's Epiftles are an integral 
portion of c the Scriptures : ' and, that the 
whole of the Old Teftament is infpired. 



CHAPTER XI. 




c Extent ' of Infpiration^ as 
refpeEis its quality. 

ff gnSl fHE queftion concerning the 
c extent ' of Infpiration, in 
its other afped, of quality, 
may, perhaps, be more 
fimply exprefTed thus : In what Jenfe do 
we underftand the writers of the feveral 
Books of the Bible to have been infpired ? 
What do we attribute to them ? In attempt- 
ing to furnifh an anfwer to this the efTen- 
tial point in the whole inquiry, we are 
quite alive to the difficulty, and, it may 
be even faid, the refponnbility, which is 
involved. Equally fure are we that it is 
impoffible for the moft anxious thinker 



2 1 4 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

upon this, or any other fubjecl;, (thofe, 
efpecially, on which the minds of men 
have been excited by controverfy), fo 
cautioufly to fhape his words, that they 
mall defy mifinterpretation. 

Now, thofe who have dealt with this 
very difficult point (for it is, unqueftion- 
ably, among the (C deep things of God "), 
feem to range under two main divisions ; 
thofe who contend for the words, and 
thofe who are fatisfied to regard the Jub- 
fiance, as having been infpired. Of thefe 
theories, it may be faid, in pafling, J that 
the former feems to be quite irreconcile- 
able with the free exercife of their facul- 
ties by the writers ; receives no fupport 
from Scripture ; is not required by the 
conditions of the cafe ; is inconfiftent 
with the fact of the exiftence of various 
readings ; and fubverts the authority of 
tranflations for conveying the meaning of 

1 See " Divine Infpiration," by E. Henderson, 
D.D., Left. viii. 



Verbal Theory untenable. 215 

the Scriptures, whereas Truth admits of 
being conftrued. To thefe confiderations 
let the following be added, that the theory 
is, in fact, untrue. Different words are 
ufed to defcribe the fame event ; and, 
fometimes, in thofe words are involved 
fmall difcrepancies in the matter referred 
to, or in their afpect and relations to the 
whole fubject. Now it is inconceiveable 
that fuch diversity in the narrations mould 
have exifted, if the words employed by 
any one narrator of an event had been 
exactly dictated by the Holy Spirit; for 
then, any departure from that precife 
formula would have been a departure 
from the mind of the Spirit prefenting 
the event or the doctrine after the one 
manner which by the decifion of that in- 
fallible Spirit would alone exhibit it in its 
truth. When thefe feveral confiderations 
are added together, they form a cumula- 
tive argument againft the ( verbal theory,' 
which it would feem impoffible to refift. 



2 1 6 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

But what neceffity is there for fyftematiz- 
ing in the matter at all ? In its ftruclure, 
as it comes to us, the Bible is the moft 
unartificial of books. Why, then, mould 
it be fubjecled to rigorous laws of any 
kind, when we would account for the 
method in which it was originally framed 
by its Divine Author? 

May we not be excufed from the obli- 
gation to fubfcribe to the Procruftean 
theory of verbalifm, or any other which 
has been offered, and deal with the cafe as 
it comes to us, upon fome fimple prin- 
ciple, either fuch as would fatisfy us in 
cc earthly things," or fuch as muft content 
us when the fubject with which we deal 
belongs to cc things " that are "heavenly?" 

To put the matter then in the plainer!: 
poffible form, we hold concerning Scrip- 
tural infpiration, what would feem to be 
the common fenfe view of the cafe, that 
the Holy Spirit fo f guided and governed' 
the minds of His fervants whom He raifed 



God's Truth above mere words. 217 

up to write the feveral books which make 
up the Bible, that what they jointly left 
upon record mould convey all the truth 
which it was God's purpofe to depofit 
with His church, and mould be free from 
aught which could miflead the foul. If 
thefe points mould be fecured, the end 
of Divine Revelation would be accom- 
plished. But it is to be constantly borne 
in mind, that it was His Truth which 
" the Moft Mighty God " willed to com- 
municate ; fomething which exifted be- 
fore, and foared high above, and was to 
outlaft, and, for all thefe reafons, was in- 
dependent of, any forms of language 
whatever ; and, if fo, then of the words, 
and fyllables, and letters, of which all 
language is compofed. It was through 
the medium of language, indeed, that the 
communications of the c Infinite ' were to 
be made to the c Finite,' the mefTage of 
the Creator fent down to the Creature. 
But language itfelf is God's creature ; 



2 1 8 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

and He did not place Himfelf in bondage 
to it. He employed it, as He did all the 
other agencies He had created ; but ftill 
only as an instrument ; as a means to an 
end j that end being the impartation to 
His reafonable and refponfible creature of 
the knowledge of His will. Now, this 
knowledge would be attained through 
certain dealings with men and nations, 
to be historically made known ; but, upon 
a fcale of fuch breadth, and with features 
fo large, as to be independent of words 
regarded in their minutenefs, and to be 
capable of being f c known and read of all 
men." 

Such a view of the end for which the 
Bible was given to man does not open 
the door for any uncertainty as to its con- 
tents. The alleged fads are real occur- 
rences : they are not fictions out of which 
instructive lefTons are drawn, as c Morals' 
out of c Fables : ' the things which " are 
written for our admonition" did really 



No uncertainty here. 219 

befal the "fathers" of the Hebrew people; 
they are true hiftorical events, which 
" came to pafs " in the life of the Ifraelites 
before they came to us as precedents 
( f types ') of the way in which God would 
always act under the like circumftances. 
But frill, amid the diverfity of the oc- 
casions, and with a leffon fpecifically dif- 
ferent taught by each, they were placed 
upon record with one general aim, "to 
the intent that we mould not lufl: after 
evil things, as they alfo lufted." This 
was the warning inference to be deduced 
from all the cafes ; while, in particular, 
idolatry, wantonnefs, abufe of the long- 
fuffering, and murmuring againft the dif- 
penfations of God, were for ever rebuked 
by the confequences they then entailed 
upon thofe who were guilty of them. In 
the Narratives, however, of the particu- 
lars of the finful conduct fo punifhed, the 
words were of lefs moment than the fads ; 
and, if the latter mould be told in a 



220 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

manner fubftantially true, the former 
would have done their office. To con- 
tend that every fyllable and letter was 
prefcribed to, and forced upon, the Pen- 
tateuchal-hiftorian, by Divine Power, is 
to infift upon that from which the mind 
revolts as a violence done to the laws of 
mind, and is a demand calculated to wake 
up more inward fcepticifm, than it will 
produce honeft belief. For, Cf doubt comes 
in at the window, "not only" when inquiry 
is denied at the door," but alfo, when 
extravagant theories are thruft in as the 
conditions of orthodoxy. Such a f golden 
image' has, however, been fet up in the 
verbal theory, by fome writers, and 
obeifance to it demanded, in terms as 
1 intolerant as thofe of the Babylonifh 
monarch. l Whofo falleth not down and 
worfhippeth' the c dicl:um ' that cc in com- 
mitting the contents of the Bible to 
writing, the penmen had all the terms im- 
1 Dan. iii. 6. 



Verbalijis intolerant. 221 

mediately fuppKed to them by the Holy- 
Spirit," c mall the fame hour be call 
into the ' infamy of f rejecting the doc- 
trine of infpiration,' in fpite of the mod 
explicit avowal of a " belief in its plenary 
and infallible characters." Full credit 
is given to the Authors alluded to, of 
being " x very jealous for the Lord," no 
lefs fo, poffibly, than the Prophet who 
thought that { he only was left ' to main- 
tain God's caufe. But, thefe good men 
(though, as we muft think, not ftrong- 
minded reafoners) may not affume that 
becaufe they firmly hold a doctrine, there- 
fore the afpect which it prefents to them 
is the exclusively right one. We hold that 
it is poffible to -i bow fubmimVely to the 
authority of Scripture, without fubfcribing 
to the opinion that its every word, and 

1 I Kings xix. 10. 

2 " Nee vero, id enim diligenter intelligi volo, 
fuperftitione tollenda religio tollitur. " — Cic. De 
Divinat. lib. ii. c. 72. 



222 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

{y liable, and letter, was prefcribed to the 
penmen of it ; poffible to believe that the 
Holy Spirit took pofTeflion of the facul- 
ties of Mofes and Ezra, of Ifaiah and 
Daniel, of Matthew and Paul, fo as to 
make them the organs for conveying His 
eternal truth to the Church, without admit- 
ting that, at the fame time, He introduced 
into their minds whole fentences in a form 
as complete and fixed as the types in the 
compofitor's frame, to which the printed 
page is exactly to correfpond. We hope 
that many may be regarded as honeft and 
confident believers, who would decline to 
affent to fuch a fcheme. 

" l A\\ Scripture is GoD-breathed." This 
afferts that the writings to which collec- 
tively, we have, by long habit, given the 
name of c Scripture,' and which, mentally, 
we may think of as though they were 
one Document, were penned, "or fanc- 
tioned, by men who were under the 

1 2 Tim. iii. 16. 



Three Pajfages Examined. 223 

fpecial and extraordinary influence of the 
Holy Spirit;" and that "they are the 
refult of the exertion of this influence." 
" 1 Every thing which was written afore- 
time was " (fo) cc written for the end of 
teaching us : " even a PafTage in the 
Pfalms, the evangelical application of 
which is to Christ, comes under this law ; 
fo deeply ftruck are the roots, fo wide- 
fpreading the branches, fo diverfified the 
fruits, of Infpiration. But, neither of the 
laft-cited PafTages, though forming jointly 
a ftrong bulwark of that doctrine, affirms, 
or can be fhewn to imply, that the minute 
elements, ( words, and the particulars 
which make up words), were fent to 
the tongue and hand, in the fame manner 
as was the fubftance of the truth to be 
taught, to the thoughts, of thofe perfons 
whom the Spirit employed. 

In a review of PafTages which are fre- 
quently claimed as fupporting the theory 
1 Rom. xv. 4. 



224 Infpirattonofthe Holy Scriptures. 

now being confidered, we may by no 
means omit one of which it is maintained 
that it exprefsly afferts verbal infpiration. 
fC l Which things alfo we fpeak, not in the 
words which man's wifdom teacheth, but 
which the Holy Ghost teacheth." In 
this fentence, following very nearly upon 
thofe often mifapplied words, " Eye hath 
not feen, nor ear heard, — but God hath 
revealed them unto us by His Spirit," 
St. Paul contrails the manner , as he had 
juft contrafled the matter, of what he 
taught, with the ftyle employed by the 
fophifts and rhetoricians of Greece. As the 
doctrines, fo the method of propounding 
them, differed entirely, in the one cafe, 
and the other. The "wifdom of this world" 
was appropriately exhibited in correfpond- 
ing c forms of language ; ' but, " God's 
wifdom," which needed not, and refufed 
fuch recommendation, was exprefTed in 
the c ftyle which the Holy Ghost fug- 
1 i Cor. ii. 13. 



Three Pajfages Examined. 225 

gefted ' as mof!: befitting His own fuper- 
human communications. 

"Comparing fpiritual things" (fubftances 
of truth) Cf with Spiritual," they would 
learn the " mind of the Spirit," and ex- 
prefs it in a manner that mould truly re- 
prefent His defign. The ftrefs was not 
laid upon the words and fyllables of man's 
wifdom, but upon what lay beneath them 
as either frivolous, or falfe : and fo, it is 
not upon the words and fyllables com- 
posing the language of the Spirit, upon 
anything fo minute and microfcopic, that 
the weight of the Apoflle's argument 
refts, but upon the main ideas, the broad 
truths, which the phrafes, whatever they 
were in particular inftances, mould em- 
body. And it may here be ftated, with- 
out fear of difproof, that the term "words," 
in the PafTage on which we have deemed 
it important thus to comment at length, 
does not properly fignify fingle, feparate 
c words,' fuch as a vocabulary, or the 



226 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

dictionary of a language would furnifh. 
The term c logos ' fets before the mind c a 
reafon,' ' a principle,' fome c complex form 
of thought,' the exponent of which will 
be found rather in a combination of words 
and phrafes than in thefe fingly taken. 

Finally, in our endeavour to refcue the 
term found in this thirteenth verfe, from 
the fenfe of the f verbal theorifts,' we fee 
the ftrongeft reafon of all in the employ- 
ment of it in an earlier place in the fame 
chapter. The Apoftle, in the fourth verfe, 
aflerts that his 'addrefs and his preaching ' 
had not been prefented to the Corinthians 
f under the perfuafive forms of oratory ' 
fo much ufed and fo greatly relied upon 
by the Greek rhetoricians, but were of a 
wholly different character.' Now, it is 
very clear that the c perfuafivenefs ' re- 
ferred to confirmed, not in the ufe of fingle 
words, or choice phrafes merely, (though 
doubtlefs it included both), but in the 
whole artificial texture of their ftyle, and 



Grace no one Endowment. 227 

in the impofing effect which eloquence fo 
elaborated would produce. 

A fimilar mifconception Teems to pre- 
vail refpecting Infpiration, as is generally 
found on the fubjedt of Grace. ' Grace' is 
not any fingle beftowment ; it is not the 
inftillation into the foul of any one faculty : 
but God's gift emphatically fuch, as the 
"Sufficient" fupplement of man's "weak- 
nefs;" the "power of Christ refting upon 
us," not in one form, but " according to our 
feveral necefities." So, and flmilarly, God 
infpired His fervants the Prophets and 
Apoftles, not by bringing them all into a 
condition of mind abfolutely one and the 
fame, (how could this be the cafe, when 
their circumftances and their tafks were 
fo various ?), but by enabling them, each 
for his particular work. 2 " Here and 
there" (Bifhop Hinds obferves) " are 

1 2 Cor. xii. 9. 

2 " Early Chriftianity," Part n., Ch. iv., Note 56. 



228 Infpiration of the Holy Scr iptures . 

marks of an infpiration which dictates to 
the very letter ; but, ordinarily, it is only 
a Divine fuperintendence, preventing 
error or omiffion, and interpofing only 
for that purpofe. God has enabled man 
to record and to teach His Word, as He 
has enabled him to do His will, not by 
fuperfeding the ufe of his natural facul- 
ties, but by aiding them." If there was 
an entirely new revelation, the Divine 
Spirit would imprefs the original powers 
of the minds to be employed in commu- 
nicating it, without fufpending them. If 
prophecies which the utterers understood 
but " in part," were to be recorded, the 
Spirit would reftrain them from every 
thing that was wrong, and fupply what 
was defective. If hiftorical facts were to 
be narrated; or, words exprefsly fpoken 
by God as a meflage or other announce- 
ment, to be communicated, memory 
would be quickened, and f f every failure 
or fault of it, miraculoufly remedied." 



i 



Free Play of the Mind. 229 

Nor is it denied that on many of thefe 
occasions, (even when the cafe does not 
necerTarily imply it), — the very words may 
have been provided : doubtlefs they were 
whenever it cc fo Teemed good " to the 
Holy Ghost, whofe agents the writers 
were. But our pofition is, that ordina- 
rily it would not be fo, both becaufe fuch 
minute dictation would interfere with the 
free play of the mind, and alfo becaufe 
it would be unnecefTary. When a great 
moral philofopher, or a mailer in natural 
fcience, has fettled in his mind the funda- 
mental principles of fome fyftem which he 
intends to put forth in a treatife, this 
firft ftage (we may fuppofe), is fucceeded 
by the arrangement, in his thoughts, 
of the parts of the Work, according 
to the relations of the fubjecT:. The 
1 matter having been, in this way, com- 
pletely forefeen, the words follow; not 

l "Verbaque provifam rem non invita fequentur." 
Hor. Ars Poetic a, v. 311. 



230 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

independently, but in the fame manner 
as in a military expedition, the route 
having been fixed, and the march com- 
menced, by thofe in command, the fub- 
ordinates follow, upon a road, marked 
out for them, indeed, yet not paffively, 
but with the free action of their feet, and 
of their wills. They are l guided and 
governed,' but not compelled. 

Is there not fome analogy to be feen be- 
tween this dodtrine of Infpiration, and that 
of c Free-will ? ' 1 " We have no power 
to do good works without the grace of 
God by Christ preventing us that we 
may have a good will, and working with 
us, when we have that good will." Even 
fo, to Infpiration are eflential two condi- 
tions : the truth to be, by God's instru- 
ments, communicated to man ; and, the 
ability to communicate it: the one, and 
the other, fupernatural. But, as the 
" miraculous qualification for receiving a 
1 X. Art. of Religion. 



Analogy in Free-will. 231 

revelation, or other extraordinary know- 
ledge imparted by God," was created in 
harmony with the univerfal laws of mind, 
fo the "qualifications for fulfilling the 
courfe of duty arifing out of it," (that of 
placing it upon record), were conferred in 
a manner that did no violence to thofe 
laws. The mind was not disturbed, nor 
its ordinary workings interfered with, 
when God's New Truth entered and 
occupied it. Equally free was it left to 
felect the phrafes, and their component 
words, when that Truth was to be written 
down. 

The remarks which have hitherto been 
made in connection with the fenfe in which 
we fpeak of Bible Infpiration, have re- 
ferred to the views entertained by fome 
as they are found on the fide of c excefs.' 

But, opinions are held and publifhed, 
which appear both defe^iive, and very 
mifchievous. Of this clafs the moft 
glaring are thofe which would eliminate 



232 Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

from the Bible itfelf whole fections of 
what lies there, and even entire Books, 
by the application of the private, intan- 
gible, irrefponfible rule called the f veri- 
fying faculty,' on which fome obfervations 
have already been offered. The parts of 
Scripture which thefe perfons would caft 
out are fuch as, in their judgment, lack 
authority, or are intrinfically unworthy 
to hold a place among the writings by 
which the Church is to be taught what 
"to believe and to do." The fubject 
is very wide, and forbids more being 
here faid on it than that we lcc receive 
all the Books," as f c of the New Tefta- 
ment," fo, too, of the Old, 2 f c as they are 
commonly received;" underftanding by 
this latter expreflion, not c becaufe they are 
generally accepted,' but f in the number 
and form in which they have been gene- 
rally, by all the Chriftian world, ad- 

1 VI. Art. of Religion. 

2 " Ut vulgo recepti funt." — Lat. 



EcleBic Theories. 233 

mitted:' "and account them canonical," 
on the ground 1 already urged, that they 
are entitled to be the fc2 binding Rules of 
our faith and religion, in their own 
nature." 

It is afked by others, * May not The 
Lord and His Apoftles have fometimes 
fpoken, as it were, unofficially, fo that 
their words, on thofe occafions, mould be 
regarded as uninfpired ? Is there not a 
parallel,' fay they, f in the conftitution of 
fociety ? ' In the learned profeffions, we 
expect that the Judge, when on the bench, 
fhall order his words with precifion, be- 
caufe he is then avowedly dealing with 
Law. We look for the like from the 
Phyfician, when he is holding a confulta- 
tion with his medical brethren upon the 
cafe of a patient, or addreffing a body of 

1 Vide p. 134. 

2 Bifhop Cofin's " Scholaftic Hiftory of the 
Canon," (laft chapter) ; the italics, as given in the 
text, being that author's. 



234 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

ftudents in the theatre of an hofpital ; as 
alfo from a Minifter of religion, when he 
is fpeaking either from the profeffor's 
chair, or the pulpit. But each of thefe, 
the judge, the phyfician, the clergyman, 
performs many actions in which he is 
not diftinguifhed from the other members 
of fociety ; thofe, in fadl, of which every- 
day life is made up. The common talk, 
the hourly movements, of the firft, are 
not judicial ; nor of the fecond, medical ; 
nor of the laft, theological. 

Is there not a proportion to this in the 
cafe of the Apoftles, and their Infpiration? 

The fact is admitted, but not the infer- 
ence. If " there were many figns " (tokens 
of His miraculous power, perhaps, more 
efpecially), c< which Jesus did," of which 
no record is left, how much more likely is 
it that there were many actions of his life 
which have not come down to us ? "But 
thefe " which tc are written " admit of no 
eclecticifm. No deed, no word, of the 



EckBic Theories. 235 

Lord Jesus, which is found in the nar- 
rative as we have it, is unminifterial. 
The Holy Ghost made the felection, 
when He f governed ' the judgment of 
Matthew, or of John, to make that fe- 
leclion from the actions and the fayings 
of Jesus, the refult of which is found in 
their records, and thofe of their fellow- 
evangelifts. 

There is yet another fuggeftion offered 
by thofe who fpeculate upon the ' extent' to 
which Infpiration reaches. Like that juft 
considered, it does not imply any irreve- 
rence, or awaken the fufpicion of a fecret 
defire to reduce God's Book within as 
narrow limits as poffible. Whatever may 
be thought of it, whether it may be con- 
sidered as a tenable opinion, or otherwife, 
it is quite confident with a belief in re- 
velation, and a general acknowledgment 
of the Divine authority of the Scriptures. 
It is fuggefted that Infpiration is not to 
be regarded as extending over the whole 



236 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

field of the Bible, but as confined to thofe 
parts of it which involve religious truth ; 
what is properly and ftridtly fuch, doc- 
trines and principles. 

The mention of this theory feems to 
give an opportunity of briefly adverting 
to the fadl, that the feveral Views of In- 
fpiration which have been recently put 
forth amongft ourfelves, are not new: they 
have prevailed at former periods in the 
hiftory of the Church, and found, then, 
as ftrong fupporters ranged under each, as 
the fame opinions do now. 

It appears that the ' c< belief in c full 
infpiration ' was held from the earlieft 
times, with a few exceptions, and, unin- 
terruptedly, until the Twelfth Century." 
Subfequently, there difcovered itfelf, in 
the Seventeenth Century, in the Writers 
of Germany and of France, — reprefented 
refpeclively by Calixtus and Amyrault, — 

1 See Rev A. S. Farrar's Bampton Leftures, 
(viii.), Note 50. 



Old Opinions. 237 

a tendency towards that very View of In- 
fpiration which is now before us, as one of 
the fuggeftions of our own day. It may 
incline us to the cultivation of a tolerant 
fpirit, thus to learn that opinions from 
which our own judgment may, poflibly, 
lead us to differ, have been held two cen- 
turies ago by Chriftians of other countries, 
whofe attention was thoughtfully fixed 
upon the fubjects which excite fo ftrong 
an intereft, at this very time, among our- 
felves. Towards error upon fundamental 
points, no examples taken from other 
centuries and churches may make us in- 
dulgent. " If the foundations be cart 
down," what mail it avail to prove that 
the undermining procefs began fome hun- 
dreds of years ago ? But on queftions 
which are plainly ' open,' it is a wholefome 
difcipline for ourfelves, to reprefs the 
" fpirit which dwelleth within us," which 
" lufteth to " fubjugate all around us to 
our own conclufions. 



238 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures . 

That thefe words upon tolerance are 
not a covert plea for our own adhefion 
to the View in queftion, will yet be made 
clear. 

There remains to be noticed the theory 
of thofe who maintain that there is no 
line of demarcation at all, between the 
Bible, and other books ; that it differs 
from other Works that the world has ever 
feen, in degree only. This School con- 
tend that we muft not carry any notions 
of our own about Infpiration, to the in- 
terpretation of the Scriptures ; but that 
our belief on this point muft be made up 
of the impreflions we derive from the 
ftudy of Scripture. They hold, too, 
that Infpiration is the iC voice of the con- 
gregation," not the voice of God to the 
congregation, communicating His mind 
upon things which had been " kept fecret 
lince the world began," but which are 
J " now made manifeft, and by the Scrip- 

1 Rom. xvi. 2C, 26. 



Second l Opinion ' revived. 239 

tures of the prophets, according to the 
commandment of the everlafting God, 
made known to all nations for the obe- 
dience of faith." Thefe opinions, which 
characterize the Rationalifm of Germany, 
have re-appeared (by contact, probably,) 
in the theological literature of our own 
country ; c re-appeared,' for they origi- 
nally began in England, and croffed from 
us to the Continent. It will be feen that 
this theory is in effect a denial of Infpi- 
ration, if by that term is properly meant 
Truth whofe original " feat is the bofom 
of God," and which has been miracu- 
lously brought to our world by the <c only- 
begotten Son, who hath revealed Him." 
{C Great" as is <c the gulf" between this 
I aft fpeculation, and that named imme- 
diately before it, the difficulty which that 
(the fecond of the views referred to), pre- 
fents, is of fuch a nature as is not lerTened 
by the fact that it has been widely adopted 
by many eminent and excellent writers in 



240 Infpirationofthe Holy Scriptures. 

the Englifh Church. The method of 
regarding the dodtrinal portion only of 
the Scriptures as properly, or necefTarily, 
infpired, feems to have had its origin in a 
f prefTure from without/ on the part of 
the deiftical writers, to which many feemed 
to have yielded ; a fhort-flghted and un- 
wife policy, as we of this day may be in- 
clined to think, flnce the fpirit of unbelief 
will never be fatisfied, but rather will take 
courage from the conceflions made to its 
demands, and never reft until it have cut 
away from the Church every inch of the 
ground whereon its faith ftands. To 
fave the great ~Do5lrines of Revelation 
from overthrow, (it may be), the deifti- 
cal writers of that period were thus met 
halfway ; while the views which they 
were the occafion of introducing, have 
found favour with many of our own time, 
who are not only infinitely removed from 
any fympathy with their loofe opinions, 
but are to be ranked among the honeft 
adherents to the true Faith. 



Scripture ' contains' God's Word. 241 

But here feems to be the grand diffi- 
culty. Who can fay in what part c doc- 
trine ' is not contained ? Where is he to 
be found, however cc mighty in the Scrip- 
tures," who would encounter the refpon- 
fible talk, beginning with the firft Book 
of the Bible, and ending with the laft, of 
making a felection of fuch parts as mould 
be pronounced to teach or to involve 
c doctrine,' with the implied decifion that 
the remainder were undoftrinal ? Who 
would venture to draw the line between 
Chapters, (or other larger Sections), or 
even Verfes, that do and do not contain, 
and were or were not defigned to convey, 
religious truth for the inftrudtion of the 
Church, throughout its generations, for 
ever ? Where is the member of the 
Chriftian Church, who would gird him- 
felf to fuch a tafk, even if all his fellows 
would agree to commit it to him ? or, 
What affembly of reprefentatives of all the 
churches in Chriftendom would enter upon 

R 



242 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures . 

fuch an undertaking ? or, if rafh enough 
to meet for fuch a purpofe, would not, as 
the fulnefs of Holy Scripture opened 
before them, f go out, one by one, being 
convicted, by their own confcience,' of the 
J prefumptuoufnefs of the project to which 
they had committed themfelves? Who 
can fay in what part of Scripture is not 
contained fome Divinely-inferted truth, 
or where fome celeftial ore does not lie 
embedded ? 

Our thoughts are here led on to another 
theory 2 already touched on, but of a 
character far too important, in its bearing 
upon the queflion of the extent of Infpira- 
tion, not to be more particularly noticed. 
A diftinction has been attempted to be 
fet up between the Word of God cc con- 

1 " Periculofe plenum opus aleae 
Tra&as ; et incedis per ignes 
Suppofitos cineri dolofo." 

Horat. Od. ii. I. 

2 Page 163. 



Scripture 'contains' God's Word. 243 

tained in," and that word as fC coextenfive 
with " Holy Scripture. An old fubtilty, 
refuted when firft propofed ; but not, on 
that account, lefs acceptable to minds 
whofe turn it would ferve, if, after two 
hundred years, it could pafs undetected. 

Of the proposition l£C Holy Scripture 
containeth all things necefTary to falva- 
tion," the more logically correct form, or 
at leaft, that which more clearly exhibits 
the defign of the framers of it, is, c All 
things necefTary to falvation are contained 
(comprifed) in Holy Scripture,' fo that 
we need not, we may not, travel beyond 
its borders for any necefTary truth. It has 
been afTerted, of the formulary above 
recited, that it does not deny but that 
Holy Scripture cc may and does contain 
many more things " than thofe necefTary 
to falvation. The afTertion may be true. 
But, apart from that formulary, and 

1 Art. VI. 



244 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

irrefpectively of the limits prefcribed by 
that or any other ecclefiaftical flandard, 
we may determine the meaning of the 
word c contained, 5 by the rule of popular 
ufe. When we fpeak of the ' contents ' 
of a vefTel, or of a cheft, what do we 
intend ? Plainly, all that is within either. 
The word in queftion is mifufed, if em- 
ployed to fignify that God's Word is to 
be found in different parts of the Bible, 
but that not every portion of it is God's 
Word ; that the gold ore is there for 
thofe who know how to pick it out, but 
that all is not gold. Hiftorical evidence 
of the cleareft kind can be produced to 
mew that the £l Word of God' is an 
"expreffion commenfurate and convertible 
with" the Holy Scriptures. 



1 "Whatfoever is God's Word is Holy Scripture : 
whatfoever is Holy Scripture is God's Word. They 
are equivalent and convertible terms." — Teftimonies 
to the Infpiration of the H. S. by the Rev. A. 
M c Caul, D.D. p. 20. (Lond. 1862.) 



Tet, mere Words are not Ends. 245 

It follows that the word c contains ' is 
rightly ufed when by it is conveyed the 
belief that every part of the Bible, with- 
out any refervation, is God's Word; that 
the Scriptures are entirely made up of 
that Word. 

As firmly, however, as we refift the 
attempt to revive the mifinterpretation of 
the word £ contained,' muft we maintain 
the liberty of underftanding that term 
otherwife than it is very commonly ac- 
cepted and employed. The error referred 
to is that of making the words them/elves 
to be ends. Apparently this is done ; in 
effect it is, unquestionably, by many 
whofe veneration for God's Book we hold 
in greater efteem than we do their judg- 
ment. The latter faculty in thefe perfons 
is at fault, in two points of view: they do 
not difcriminate ; and, they do not forefee 
confequences. They do not diftinguim 
between the " ejfence " of truth, and the 
form of words, in which it is f contained.' 



246 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures . 

Much of what has been already faid upon 
the f verbal-infpiration ' theory will fit 
into this place ; for, the perfons contem- 
plated are the fame ; the cafes, nearly fo : 
fince it is for the fake of fentences which 
the f words ' are to build up that the 
verbalifts are fo jealous of the flngle 
terms. But is not this queftion reducible 
to fomething like certainty ? What is it 
which prompts a man to conftruct a 
number of flngle words into a fentence ? 
Is it the affection he has for the words 
themfelves ? any intereft he feels in them 
as fpoken breath, or as written characters ? 
Is it not that the mind has been vifited 
by an c idea ' which it feeks to exprefs by 
fymbols that mail reprefent that idea to 
the minds of others? The man would 
fhare his thoughts (many, and deep, it 
may be), with others; and this he can only 
do through fymbols as the communicating 
medium. If this be the true account of 
the matter, then muft we ever look be- 



Tet mere Words are not Ends. 247 

neath the containing fhell for that which 
it holds within. The body is for the 
fpirit : now words embody thought. 
1 " How needful to remember that the 
'Word' of God lies in the eftkntmlfpirit 
of the book, and not in its conventional 
form." Nor are they alive to the con- 
fequences which may be expected from 
infilling upon it. <c For " (as the writer 
juft cited remarks), " that theory tends to 
alienate all thinking minds from religion 
itfelf .... it clogs the Bible with a 
fuffocating weight, by burdening it with 
claims unthought of by itfelf, nay, con- 
tradicted by the facts which lie upon the 
furface of its pages." As the mind of 
man finds an exponent of itfelf in the 
words which either the lips fpeak, or the 

1 " A Plea for Holy Scripture as the Treafure- 
houfe of all-faving Truth : " by Thomas Griffith, 
A.M. {v. p. 19). London: Macmillan and Co. 
1864; in which the whole of this queftion is ably 
and concifely treated. 



248 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

hand writes, but thofe words centre not in 
themfelves, but in the idea which called 
for their fervice, only to impart itfelf to 
the minds of others, while the thought is 
not fo tied to the words which offer them- 
felves as that they could not by poffibility 
have been clothed in other phrafe ; fo by 
analogy rauft we hold that the Mind of 
God, having His purpofes and will to 
communicate to man, brought this to 
pafs through tongues and pens which He 
moved effectually, but to whofe language 
(though regulated by Himfelf), — the fo- 
vereign Spirit was not fo bound as that 
no other feries of fentences, or combina- 
tions of words making up any one fen- 
tence, could have accomplished the end 
for which He employed thofe intelligent 
inftruments. 

The remarks which have been made in 
this and the former Chapter, have been in- 
tended to furnifh an anfwer to the quef- 
tion, f How far Infpiration extends.' But 



* Extent ' Jiated 'Explicitly . 249 

it may be well not to leave the f doctrine ' 
to be merely gathered from what has 
been advanced, but to ftate it, fo far as is 
poffible, in explicit terms. We hold that 
Infpiration covers cc the whole face of the 
ground " of Scripture ; and that there is 
no book, nor any portion of any, of that 
Collection of Documents which we know 
as the " Holy Bible," of which it could 
be faid, That part is to be excluded, or 
may be excepted, from the infpired Word 
of God. c Embracing writings of very 
different kinds,' fome containing facts of 
hiftory, fome fupernatural revelations, and 
others whofe characterise title might 
differ from either of thefe, whatever be 
the fubject-matter peculiar to the feveral 
books, we maintain that the entire Volume 
familiarly known to us as "The Bible" 
is properly and truly Divine ; and that 
could each Book, as it lies there, find a 
tongue, it would fay concerning itfelf, 
" 1 1 proceeded forth, and came from God, 

1 John viii. 42. 



250 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures . 

neither came I of myfelf, but He fent 
me" to contribute, in my place and pro- 
portion, to that total of truth which it 
was His will to communicate to Men, to 
educate them for an immortal exiftence. 

A few cautions have to be added. 

Some writers difcover great anxiety to 
"diftinguifh between the c interpretation ' 
and the c application,' of Scripture." f Ap- 
plication ' by whom ? Unqueftionably we 
may not employ <f the words of God " in 
any way not agreeable to the Mind of 
God ; that is, to His defign in caufing 
the words to be written. But that f ufe ' 
of Scripture which we find in Scripture 
itfelf, namely, of paffages in the tc Old " 
by writers in the " New Teftament," is 
not to be fpoken of as illegitimate c appli- 
cation ; ' as an ingenious accommodation 
of words to occafions foreign to thofe 
which firft gave rife to them, and there- 
fore deftitute of authority. Such an ac- 
count of the matter involves a denial of 



Infpired ' Application . ' 251 

Infpiration, and reduces the writers fo 
employing the words to men of imagina- 
tive minds, who, by the help of a lively 
fancy, were {truck by a refemblance in 
found where there was none in fenfe, and 
hence perfuaded themfelves of a coinci- 
dence (groundlefs, as it feems to the 
c critics'), between the ancient and the new 
occaflon; a fimilarity in words, but no more. 
It is readily admitted that " the indis- 
criminate ufe of Scripture " by thofe (non- 
Scriptural) writers who force its language 
into the fervice of their own arguments, 
has tc a tendency to maintain erroneous 
conclufions of every kind." But the dis- 
tinction is broad between this cafe, and 
that of the Scrtpture-writers y who make a 
new ufe of what firft appeared in the Old 
Teftament : and, unlefs we are prepared 
to yield the claims of Infpiration over a 
very wide portion of the field of Scrip- 
ture, we mult ftand by them here. The 
employment by the Apoftles and Evan- 



252 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

gelifts, of the language of the Pentateuch, 
the Pfalms, and the Prophets, in other and 
deeper fenfes than belonged to the words 
in their original places, is a feature in 
their writings fo prominent, and fo per- 
vading the whole texture of them, as will 
not admit of being explained away. A 
believer in the Divine authority of the 
Bible will recognize its divinity as very 
remarkably mining forth in this pecu- 
liarity. c ' Great is the God' of the Bible 
feen to be, c in this :' His Truth f waxeth 
not old.' 

We muft beware, too, of looking 
for the tefi of Infpiration in the accord- 
ance of the Scriptures with the purer 
light which fhall be found in man as 
the world grows older. A notion of 
this fort (not very clearly exprefTed, it is 
true), is cherifhed in the mind, and forms 
a part of the fyftem, of fome modern 

1 Mayas Iv Tovtoiq Qso$, ov$e yrjpdtrKSi. 

Soph. (Ed. Tyr. 871. 



Falfe Tejifor Scripture. 253 

writers, who fpeak of the difcoveries of 
God which the Bible contains, as deftined 
to receive a teftimony from the improved 
and ever-improving condition of man's 
nature. Whence this exaltation of the 
human character is to come, does not 
appear ; but manifestly not through the 
Bible as its fource. The old-fafhioned 
doctrine has been that by means of Scrip- 
ture truth, as God's infcrument, the human 
character is to be enlightened and elevated. 
But the method here referred to is alto- 
gether different. We have, then, to make 
our election between the two ; the Scrip- 
ture as witnejfed to by a ( ihining light ' 
in the human foul, (how kindled, and how 
fed, we are not told), c mining more and 
more unto ' fome vifionary f perfect day ' 
in the hiftory of the human fpecies : and, 
the Scripture, in the hand of the Holy 
Spirit, its Author, as that by which the 
pretentions of all other fchemes for en- 
lightening man's mind are to be tried ; a 



254 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

method which makes the Divine Word 
to c bear,' but not to c receive ' witnefs. 

The mifts which, in the opinion of 
fome perfons, furround c Infpiration/ will 
(they affure us), c clear away if we admit 
the principle of progreffive revelation/ 
What is implied in this language concern- 
ing the Book which contains the c revela- 
tion ' as we have it, is quite clear. For, 
fince c imperfection, and even error,' 
attach to what is £ progreffive/ the in- 
ference as refpects the Scriptures cannot 
be concealed. But J we decline to be 
c helped over the difficulty ' (if there be 
any), in this way. It were hopelefs to 
follow fceptical minds into theories of 
c perfection ' or c truth : ' and even if we 
could understand their c ideal ' of each, 
we mould probably decide that it never 
could be realized. 



: Non tali auxilio 

Tempus eget." — Virg. JEn. ii. 521, 2. 



Progrefs in " Revelation" 255 

Nor has Infpiration any caufe to trem- 
ble from fcientific difficulties. Let it be 
granted that recent difcoveries in geology, 
or afcertained facts of chemiftry, may be 
only the pioneers and precurfors of other 
and higher acquifitions in thefe fciences. 
Yet the Bible has nothing to fear from 
any developments of thefe branches of 
knowledge, fince it contains no ftatement 
connected with them which has ever been 
difproved. The human element has never 
been permitted fo to predominate as to be 
the caufe of the introduction of what is 
falfe into the Sacred Record. " Man " 
has not been allowed to " have the upper 
hand " to fuch an extent as this : his 
natural faculties have been employed by 
his Maker, and (as we believe), without 
interfering with the liberty of his will ; 
but ever in fubferviency to f truth,' both 
as regards the main end of God's Reve- 
lation, and the particulars which make it 
up. It is not merely from a fenfe of what 



256 Infpirat ion of the Holy Scriptures . 

fome have termed c Divine-decorum,' that 
we maintain that miftakes of fact cannot 
be imputed to Scripture Writers, but from 
a conviction that no error was committed 
by them. The Bible is free from real 
imperfection : and if ever the language of 
the writers, when in their narratives they 
touch on fcientific topics, feems to be at 
variance with our fuller information on 
fuch matters, the natural and fatisfactory 
folution of the difficulty is to be found 
in this truth, that, to them the true 
theory, in each cafe, was not yet known ; 
and that they defcribed what they 
faw, or otherwife knew, in free and 
popular language. " If fo, there is no 
need of elaborate reconcilements of reve- 
lation and fcience," fince they have not 
been cc fevered " by even a ct temporary 
mifunderftanding." We have not to wait 
for an enlargement of the idea of Nature 
to enlarge that of Revelation, as though 
the terms of the latter mould have to be 



Time is even-handed. 2.$j 

explained away in deference to the higher 
authority of the former ; the mifty con- 
ceptions of Bible-writers to give way to 
the brighter light of the better informed 
in our own day. If recent criticifm have 
had a dream of " 1 obeifance" to be "made 
to" its "fheaf" by the fheaves of the 
Old Teftament historians ; or that cc the 
fun, and the moon, and the eleven Stars," 
the venerated Scripture Authorities who 
have told us of cc interruptions in the 
order of the world " on fome fpecial occa- 
sions, will, hereafter, ff fee the providence 
of God in" the ^^difturbed " order of it;" 
in other words, if it is imagined by thofe 
who prefs upon us the obligation of in- 
quiring into the truth of alleged fads on 
the ftri^.ft principles of investigation, 
that Revelation will have to confefs itfelf 
mistaken in fome matters which pious 
people have been accustomed to accept as 
literally true, before the overpowering 

1 Gen. xxxv iii. 9. 
S 



258 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures, 

light cf of evidence or experiment," which 
may hereafter break in upon us, it may 
reprefs the confidence of fuch expectations 
to remember that * Time can fupply more 
materials for the fervice, not of thofe only 
who refift the idea that any of the facts of 
Scripture are Supernatural, but of thofe 
alfo, who think it confiftent with the 
foundefl philofophy to believe that the 
1 emergency of a revelation ' might juftify 
(even if to Omnipotence it cannot be 
thought to have f compelled '), c occa- 
fional ' extraordinary interpofition. 

Faith is not oppofed to Reafon, nor 
Revelation to Science : but Reafon, exer- 
cifed within the limits of its juft province, 
will fupport Faith ; and Science ex- 
pounded by matters, and not by fciolifts, 
will confirm Revelation. 

With refpect to the fubftance of Scrip- 
ture, Infpiration fets up no theory in 

1 'Apapcu £' lit'ikdlitM 
Mdprvpsg vofyw'fctT'oi. 

Pindar. Olymp. 1. 



The Bible perfedi for its ' Ends' 259 

oppofition to undeniable fads of hiftory 
or philofophy, while in claiming the whole 
field of the Bible, it merely afferts that 
the total of the Bible comes to us with 
God's feal appended to it, the continual 
office of the Church being to extract, as it 
may, by the promifed light of the Spirit, 
the c profit' of " 'doctrine, reproof, cor- 
rection, and inftrudtion in righteoufnefs." 

When God had finished Creation, He 
" 2 faw everything that He had made; 
and behold, it was very good." 

When He fealed His Son, at his bap- 
tifm, to the work of Redemption, He 
proclaimed by cc:f a voice from Heaven," 
that ' in him He was well pleafed.' 

So it is to be believed, that when He 
looked upon the completed Record of 
the Old and New Covenants, He decided 
it to be, for the ends to which He had 
appointed it, " perfect and entire, wanting 
nothing." 

1 2 Tim. iii. 16. 2 Gen. i. 31. 3 Matt. iii. 17. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Some Heads, of Admonition to 
one clajs ; of Encouragement 
to another. 




N the arguments which have 
been employed upon this 
fubject, the clafs of perfons 
which we have kept in view 
has been that of candid and reverential 
inquirers, rather than of profefTed oppo- 
nents. 

The remarks, however, which remain 
will be directed principally to the latter 
clafs. A few words will then follow for 



7? re/is on Moral Proof. 261 

the fake of a very different defcription of 
character, who ought not to be forgotten. 



If any man is refolved to fhut his eyes 
againft the Infpiration of the Scriptures, 
until he has mathematical demonstration 
of it, ihut they muft for ever remain. 
For, there are Tome fubjecls which are, 
from their very nature, incapable of being 
fo proved. The evidence of them is en- 
tirely moral; made up of a variety of 
considerations which tell with great force 
when taken together, but which, when 
regarded iingly, may not feem to be of 
any great moment. So far, there is truth 
in the affertion that it is only by examining 
Scripture that we can come to know the 
nature of Infpiration ; that it is whatever 
it is found to be, when the Books them- 



1 rfeita,i$£upsvov yd§ efffiv hit) rotrovrov rdxpifies 
hitiXfl'tsiv na9' eKa<rrov yevog, lif otrov yfov ti^dy- 
ua,ro$ <$>6<ris £tfi$tx £rai ' — Aristot. Eth. N. 1. 3, 4. 



262 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

felves have been read through, and con- 
sidered. With the c animus ' which un- 
derlies fuch a caution as this, as originally 
uttered, we are not here concerned. We 
accept the principle it contains, in the 
full confidence that it will lead out, not 
to a lower, but a higher eftimate of Scrip- 
tural Infpiration. Do not predetermine 
the character of the Bible, is a rule which 
will exclude injurious prejudices as much 
as it will undue prepofTeflions. As no 
conditions for entering upon the inquiry 
can be more fair, fo none are more pro- 
mising as to the refult. For, of the 
myriads who from the time when the 
Canon of Scripture was completed, to the 
prefent hour, having read the Bible 
throughout, have been thoroughly per- 
fuaded of its Infpiration, how many, do 
we fuppofe, began with any theory at all 
in their minds ? The ff prejudication " 
which opponents of Infpiration would 
f refift ' had no place in their thoughts. 



The Jingle Subject is ' Religion.' 263 

They began it, perhaps, (indeed it could 
not be otherwife), under thofe feelings of 
inherited reverence with which, in every 
Christian, or at leaft, every Proteftant 
country, the Scriptures are regarded. But 
they ended with what was much deeper. 
They felt, from the firft, a ftrong intereft 
in the Volume, arifing out of its fubject, 
fo clofely touching themfelves and their 
eternal hopes. They were attracted to- 
wards it, above all other Books, from 
finding it wholly taken up with thefe 
topics; that while the Writings which 
compofed it differ from each other in 
ftructure and ftyle, they have one com- 
mon feature ; they all relate to God, and 
mans foul. "God in Hiftory" is a 
ftriking thought, and fact ; His hand dis- 
cernible in all the events that have be- 
fallen nations and individuals : but the 
Bible goes beyond this ; its immediate 
and proper fubj eel-matter to us is, God in 
His relation to men ; God fpeaking to, 



264 Infpirationofthe Holy Scriptures. 

or dealing with our race, directly : this is, 
from the beginning to the end of it, the 
characteristic feature of the Bible. 

Now, this is one of the moral evidences 
of the Divine origin of the Scriptures 
which filently and fecretly makes its way 
with the foul ; and has, in fact, "wrought " 
thus fC effectually " with the countlefs 
thoufands who, from the time that the 
Sacred Writings were firft collected, to the 
prefent hour, have c meditated therein day 
and night.' 

This ftealthy conviction of the divinity 
of the Bible, arifing out of its de- 
votednefs to the one interesting fubject, 
has been strengthened by the perceived 
adaptation of its truths to their own feel- 
ings and wants. The cravings of their 
immortal nature have been fatisfled. They 
have found themfelves in communication 
with a Mind that knew their own minds ; 
they difcover that the " l Father of" their 

1 Heb. xii. 9. 



Searching and Inexhanjlible . 265 

"fpirits" has been fpeaking to them 
throughout. The words have fo fearched 
the inner chambers of their being, that 
they cc believe and are fure " that they are 
the Voice of f Him that made them,' 
that they have come forth from "the 
bofom of God." They could not but 
conclude that the lock and the key which 
they have found to fit its wards with fuch 
exadtnefs, were the work of one and the 
fame Artificer. 

In this, too, does the candid mind dis- 
cover a powerful evidence of the divinity 
of the Scriptures, that they are inex- 
hauftible. " 2 Whofoever drinketh of" the 
fprings of human philofophy, or human 
genius, fhall not only " thirft again," but 
fhall find that the fprings themfelves run 
dry ; whereas the fupplies which the Scrip- 
tures yield are inceflant, and endlefs. The 

2 . . . " Nee vox hominem fonat ''.... 
Virg. JEn. i. 332. 
2 John iv. 13. 



266 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures . 

experience of thofe whofe lifetime has 
been abforbed in the ftudy of them will 
bear witnefs that when we fo fpeak of the 
refources of the Bible, we ufe not the lan- 
guage of figure, but cc of truth and fober- 
nefs;" and that they are, literally, cc a like 
a fpring of water whofe waters fail not." 
To thefe instances of moral evidence 
which the Bible furnifhes may be added 
that of harmony found in diverfity. Shrewd 
intimations are given by fome Writers, of 
being anything but fatisrled by the facl: 
that " 2 the Scripture obvioufly embraces 
writings of very different kinds ; the book 
of Either, for example, or the Song of 
Solomon, as well as the Gofpel of St. 
John." But what if that which is thus 
reprefented as heterogeneous, be found to 
exhibit an f c agreement of its parts in the 
moll unfufpicious 3 manner ? " Then we 



1 Is. lviii. II. 2 Effay vii. p. 347. 

3 " Differtation on the Infpiration of the New 



Infpiration is of the * Writings.'' 267 

have found a point of ftrength inftead of 
weaknefs, in the diverfity of the contents 
of the Scriptures. 

The Authors alluded to feem to efpy 
a drawback to the high pretenfions of the 
Bible in cc the mixed good and evil of the 
characters of the Old Teftament, which 
neverthelefs does not exclude them from 
the favour of God." Here, too, if we 
miftake not, is a feature which tends to 
create affurance rather than mifgiving. 
Had the characters defcribed as enjoying 
the Divine approbation been other than 
what we find human nature at its beft 
eftate, to be, we might well have been 
vifited with miftruft as to their reality : 

Teftament," by P. Doddridge, D.D. The imme- 
diate application of thefe words by the Author is to 
the New ' Teftament;' of which, however, he fays 
juft after, that it is "in delightful harmony with 
the Old ; " fo that his language may fairly be ad- 
duced as teftifying to the harmony of the two Divi- 
fions of the Bible. 



268 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures . 

but we have prefented to us " 'men of like 
paffions with" ourfelves, though in the 
main Cf 2 perfect and upright, fearing God, 
and efchewing evil ; " refpe<5ting whom, it 
is to be borne in mind, that their cafes 
are often introduced, not merely to fet 
forth what they were in themfelves, but 
as the occafion of noting God's dealings 
with them, as types of His ways with the 
like characters, in their mixed form, as they 
mould always be. 

For the clafs of Objectors whence thefe 
f criticifms ' have fprung, compofed as it is 
of perfons of acute minds, it is probably 
unnecefTary to add a caution which 
neverthelefs, for the fake of others, mail 
here be inferted. We muft beware of 
fuppofing that all the actions f recorded ' in 
the Bible are fo faid to be infpired, as if 
they were approved by the Author of the 
Scriptures. Not all the doings of perfons 
in the Old Teftament which are narrated, 

1 Afts xiv. 15. 2 Job i. 1. 



Infpiration is of the ' Writings,' 269 

are thereby commended. The words and 
deeds of evil men are not therefore com- 
mended by the Holy Spirit, becaufe 
they have been made Scripture by Him ; 
nor are the weaknefles of good men put 
forth as points of excellence. In their 
failings we are admonifhed, not what to 
imitate, but what to avoid. The dis- 
tinction which Logic furnifhes may here 
be of fervice. We are not to look to the 
matter of any narrative (whether it relate 
to perfons, or actions, or facts), inde- 
pendently of its conditions, as approved, 
or difapproved by God. The form is that 
with which alone we are concerned in the 
queftion of Infpiration. " As they are 
Scripture, thefe things are of God : " but 
beyond this, nothing is, neceffarily, to be 
concluded refpecting them. 

It is the tafk left to the Church, (which 
it cannot transfer to any imaginary infal- 
lible Head, and for which it is enabled by 
the promifed aid of the Holy Spirit, as 
its peculiar endowment), to interpret the 



270 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

Record aright. In this refpecl: the Scrip- 
tures may be thought to have a fymbolic 
reprefentation in the f c x net that was caft 
into the fea, and gathered of every kind." 

The Writers who deny the Infpiration 
of the Scriptures, or who fo lower the 
idea of Infpiration as to make what they 
would admit to be fcarcely worth con- 
tending for, mould alfo be reminded that 
they achieve no triumph by a legal decifion 
that the doctrine in queftion has not been 
afferted in the Formularies of the Church. 
If it can be fhewn that any " particular or 
national Church " is without a c dogma ' 
upon the point, fuch omiffion will neceffi- 
tate their courfe to the Judges in a Court 
of Law, where the " letter," rather than 
the cc fpirit," muft be the recognized 
meafure. But every candid perfon, every 
feeker after truth, mull perceive that the 
queftion of the real views of the Church 
itfelf is not fo determined. Its c doctrine,' 

1 Matt. xiii. 47. 



f ' No Article " proves nothing. 27 1 

in a forenfic fenfe, is undoubtedly fettled, 
when a judgment' founded upon the con- 
fideration of what the Church has or has 
not faid, c ex cathedra,' has been pro- 
nounced : but its ' belief is not thus de- 
fined. 

The omiflion in the cc Articles of Reli- 
gion " is eafily explained. On that fubjecl: 
there was no controverfy, at the time they 
were drawn up. Whatever other forms 
of error fpringing from the " ' foes " 
within the fc houfehold " required to be 
combated, whatever other rocks and fhoals 
called for the uplifting of a beacon-light, 
this of the open or covert denial of Infpi- 
ration was not one. No occafion, there- 
fore, having arifen for an explicit c decla- 
ration ' of the Church's view upon this 
fubjecl:, we pofTefs none. 

Yet who that (imply defired to afcertain 

the mind of the Church of England upon 

the matter of Infpiration, could fail to 

arrive at it by ftudying its ftandard 

1 Matt. x. 36. 



272 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures . 

Authorities, and its Services? The former, 
for the reafon already affigned, do not 
c fettle ' the matter of Infpiration, to a liti- 
gant ; to him, and for his purpofes, they 
unqueftionably leave it open ; while to one 
who, without any end to gain, and folely 
for the fatisfaction of his own mind, in- 
quires what the Church does really and 
firmly hold refpecting Infpiration, the 
fuller! aflurance will be furnifhed, if not 
by what is faid, yet by what is aflumed, 
in the language of the Formularies. We 
need not go beyond the title of the " Sixth 
Article," which fpeaks of " The Holy 
Scriptures." Was this phrafe the inven- 
tion of the Framers of the Articles ? or, 
of the Church of the Middle Ages^? or, 
even of the primitive Church ? Is it 
ecclefiaftical at all ? and, not rather, Scrip- 
tural, in its fource, and derived imme- 
diately from the well-known x words of 

1 2 Tim. iii. 15. 



' ' Holy " is ' Infpired. ' 273 

St. Paul to Timothy, in which, introducing 
the term cc Holy " as an attribute of the 
ic Scriptures," he immediately expounds 
it as equivalent to c God-breathed ? ' The 
compilers of that ftatement, therefore, 
drawing the Heading of the c Article' from 
that PafTage, rauft be underftood as mean- 
ing to affix their feal to the Apoftle's 
afTertionofthelnfpirationoftheScriptures. 
Unlefs, then, we are prepared to main- 
tain that the Reformers were indebted for 
the phrafe " The Holie Scriptures," to 
their own wit, and had no eye to the 
PafTage which we have alleged, we muft 
hold, that after a manner moft eafy and 
natural, yet quite conclufive as to its 
defign, they fet up in this Formulary 
(regard being had to the Title, and the 
affirmation contained within the Article 
itfelf, taken together), a qua/i-do£tr'm& of 
Infpiration. This conclufion will be af- 
fented to by any one who compares the 
PafTage of St. Paul throughout, with the 



274 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

language of the 'Article;' the instruction 
which is f effectual unto falvation ' being 
the point dwelt upon in both. 

The reafons which have been offered 
as accounting for the abfence of any 
exprefs mention of Infpiration, in the 
dogmatic Statements of the Church now, 
apply in a general fenfe to the Jews, 
and the Primitive Church. There was 
never any doubt among either upon the 
point. Their notions may not have 
been very fharply denned; but there is 
abundant teftimony to prove that they 
never admitted into the Canon any books 
which they did not believe to be the 
cc Books of God." Rationalift Divines 
admit this ; and, by fuch admimon, prove 
all for which we contend, fince if Infpira- 
tion was nfine qua non to obtain for any 
book a place in the c Rule of faith,' its 
reality in the eftimation of thofe who 
advanced it to fuch a rank, is as fully 
eftablifhed, as if a c Declaration' refpecting 
it had been drawn up and fubfcribed. 



' Rejioration of 'Belief :' 275 

If all thefe considerations be allowed 
their juft weight, they will ferve as a check 
to the confidence of thofe Writers who per- 
fuade themfelves (if, indeed, they do really 
fo think), that becaufe a Church has not 
faid formally, f I believe that the Scrip- 
tures are infpired ' (eo nomine), it therefore 
either does not fo believe, or is to be un- 
derstood as designedly leaving Infpiration 
an open question. 

If it be true that there are f c figns that 
the divifions of the Christian world are 
beginning to pafs away," fuch a cheering 
profpect muSt reft not upon a fuppofed 
readinefs to receive a more c rational ' 
method of dealing with the pretenfions of 
Scripture, but upon a difpofition in Chrif- 
tians to think lefs of mere feclional dif- 
tinctions, and to unite in lc earnefily con- 
tending for the faith which was once de- 
livered unto the faints ' upon the old (but 
not c antiquated ') principle, that the Scrip- 

1 Jude 3. 



276 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures . 

tures are the depofitory of that £ faith.' 
The " reftoration of belief" (if, indeed, it 
be decayed), is to be looked for. not by 
removing any imagined incruftation with 
which a weak acquiefcence in the notion 
of fupernatural Infpiration had overlaid it, 
but by a return to that ftate of mind 
which led the unfophifiicated believers of 
the early days to open their eyes and 
their hearts to the evidences of the fpoken 
and the written Word. For, thofe men 
are not to be thought of as unreafoning 
and credulous, but as no lefs competent 
than any of the fhrewd people of our own 
generation to x "judge of the doclrine 
whether it" were cc of God," or not. The 
2 " multitudes both of men and women " 
who through the perfonal teaching of the 
Apoftles "were" nrft "added to the 
Lord " as " believers," and " continued 
fteadfaftly in the doclrine" of "their 
teachers," and were 3 c built up ' into 

1 John vii. 17. 2 Afts v. 14. 3 A£ls i-x. 3. 



Rejioration of Candour. 277 

enduring Churches by their Letters, began 
and perfevered upon rational conviction. 
The preaching of the Apoftles was 
attended with a l c powerful demonftration 
of the Spirit,' and their Letters were 
confefTed to be 2fC weighty and powerful:" 
both were addreffed to ferious and honeft- 
minded men, and the effect is told in the 
words, 3 " Therefore many of them be- 
lieved." The reftoration of belief may 
be expected to follow upon the reftoration 
of Bercean candour. If this c golden age ' 
of faith is to come back, the fign of its 
return will be the fimplicity of mind 
which marked the Chriftians who framed 
the Canon of Scripture. They found, in 
the Documents to which they were led to 
fC fet to" their "feal," holy matter treated 
in a heavenly manner. In the union of 
thefe two features they faw cc a peculiar 
character diftinguifhing thefe writings 

1 1 Cor. ii. 4. 2 2 Cor. x. 10. 

3 Afls xvii. 12. 

T 2 



278 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

from all writings of a human original, 
and manifefting them to be of God." 

Were we to fhrink from profeffing our 
belief that faving faith in the hearts of 
individuals is the work of the Holy 
Spirit fealing and witneffing to them 
the truths of the Scripture, we mould 
mow ourfelves "afhamed of Christ." 
Not lefs untrue to our convictions mould 
we be were we to hefitate to avow our 
belief that the Infpiration of the Scripture 
itfelf is to be known by difcerning God's 
" work in His Word." His truth, jure, 
becaufe it is His, and ftands fo related to 
Him, imparts to the Word of His truth 
an ineffable greatnefs and power, and 
"draws the foul to agreement beyond" 
the power of any cc fyftems of logic, or 
mathematical demonftrations." If fo, then 

1 Ufaris 7} vrtsp rag Xoyiv.&s psQSSous •rtjv vj/u%r y v 
sis crvyxardQstnv e\kovo-cc, icicrris ov% rj yecvperpi- 
kou$ dva.yy.ais, d\X' rj rou$ rov irvsL[j,aro$ evspysioug 
syyivdpsvY). — S. BafriiiCafarece Arcbiep. Op. vol.i. 
Paris, 1 72 1. Bened. (In Pfalm cxv.) 



Words of Encouragement. 279 

muft the habit of mind which dwelt in 
the early Church, and was to them as an 
inward light, be revived in this our day, 
and ftill form the qualification to enable 
men to judge of Bible-infpiration, in this 
the nineteenth century of the Chriftian 
Church. If it mall bring upon us the 
charge of arguing in a circle, or any other 
imputation of weaknefs, we muft brave 
thefe confequences, and hold to the prin- 
ciple juft avowed, and be permitted to 
remind the theological "critics" of this 
generation, of the remark of one who 
thought out all fuch matters with an in- 
dependent mind, that c we are under an 
intellectual, as well as moral difcipline, in 
this world.' It is as much our duty 
to deal candidly with the evidence which 
is afforded us upon fubjects which do not 
admit of any other, as it is to cc keep the 
Commandments " of the Decalogue. 

The reafonings which belong to fuch a 
fubjecl as that which has now been treated, 



280 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

will be appreciated by ftudents in theo- 
logy, rather than ordinary private Chrif- 
tians. But thefe, too, are the tc fheep of 
Christ, for whom He med His blood." 
Left thefe mould be in danger of u taking 
any hurt or hindrance by reafon of" the 
fophiftries which are rife upon the fubject 
of Bible-infpiration, a word of encourage- 
ment ihall be added for their efpecial fake. 
Let them l " not be fhaken in mind, or 
troubled" by c objections' upon this myf- 
terious fubjecl:. They may not fee their 
way through all thefe, only becaufe their 
minds have not been trained to clofe 
thought. But 2cc a man may be fully 
convinced of the truth of a matter, and 
upon the ftrongeft reafons, and yet not 
be able to anfwer all the difficulties which 
may be raifed upon it." They may find 
tranquillity by afking this fimple queftion, 
and dwelling upon the anfwer to it, What 

1 2 Thefs. ii. 2. 

2 Bishop Butler: Durham Charge, 175 1. 



EjfeBs prove Infpiration. 281 

is the end which the Scriptures propofe 
and profefs to accomplifh ? It is to 
1 "turn" men "from darknefs unto light ; 
and from the power of Satan unto God." 
Now, thefe effects they have moft unde- 
niably produced, from the days that they 
were firft heard of as " Scriptures," to the 
prefent hour. This work they carry on 
regularly in the world, by an invifible but 
moft pofitive energy, which proves them 
to contain, as inftruments, the " feed of 
God," the fame work having gone on 
through, and having furvived, the period 
of the fceptical cavils againft Infpiration 
of the laft Century, and going on, upon a 
great fcale, in our own land, and through- 
out Chriftendom, at this moment, in quiet 
defiance of the oppofition which a new 
fchool of theologians have attempted to 
revive. 

Upon the whole fubject, and as a 
thought for all alike, whether learned or 

1 Ads xviii. 10. 



282 Infpiration of the Holy Scriptures. 

unlettered Chriftians, What thanks do we 
owe to God, that, for the knowledge that 
He l cc hath given to us eternal life " we 
are not left to uncertainties ; to catch 
our afTurance upon a point fo infinitely- 
momentous, from the 2 Sibylline leaves of 
Tradition, or from any merely human 
teftimony : but, that upon considerations 
the moft weighty, and carrying convi&ion 
to our judgments, we can reft in the con- 
clufion, that in the Books of the Old and 
New Teftaments which have come down 
to us, God c hath 3 written to us the great 
things of His Law,' and of His " glorious 
Gofpel." 



1 1 John v. 11. 

2 .... " foliis tantum ne carmina manda, 
Ne turbata volent rapidis ludibria ventis." 

Virg. uEn. vi. 74. 

3 Hof. viii. 12. 



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